Kasab hanging revives memory of 26/11 killing: Pak daily

Islamabad: The execution of Ajmal Amir Kasab has revived the memory of a senseless but well-planned act of mass murder that brought Pakistan and India to the brink of war, leading Pakistani daily Dawn said on Thursday. Four years after the Mumbai terror attack, many questions still remain unanswered, the Dawn said in an editorial. Pakistani national Kasab, the sole surviving member of a 10-member terrorist group that attacked Mumbai on Nov 26, 2008, was hanged in an Indian jail on Wednesday.

"Who were the brains behind the slaughter of the civilians? What did they propose to achieve? And Where and how were the gunmen trained and armed," the daily asked. Although Islamabad has acted to reveal the work of a few fanatic killers, "that doesn't serve to hide the shortcomings in the working of Pakistan's anti-terrorism apparatus". Why did these activities go unnoticed in Pakistan, it asked.

It exposed Pakistan's inability to keep tabs on organisations that manage to amass enough resources to run clandestine cells that undertake operations of such magnitude. "Who brainwashed them into undertaking that ignoble mission? Who provided the operational facilities, including the boat journey to the Indian port?" The Pakistani part of the trial is still dragging, prompting allegations from New Delhi that Islamabad is not serious.

Pakistanis deserve to know what the government intends to do to ensure that such a tragedy is not repeated, the daily asked. "The issue is linked to the hydra-headed monster that terrorism has become for us." Militants are now operating throughout Pakistan and feel free to choose their targets, strike at will and plan operations abroad, the daily rued. The lesson to be drawn from the Mumbai events and its aftermath is that the government must make efforts to ensure that the state and citizens unite to root out terrorism.

Kasab's end came five days before the fourth anniversary of the brutal terror attacks that claimed 166 lives and left injured 300 people. Nine of his associates, who had sneaked into Mumbai for the three-day carnage, had been gunned down.