NEW DELHI — No one from the Union Cabinet or even United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi were kept in the loop about Ajmal Kasab's scheduled hanging Wednesday morning. Only President Pranab Mukherjee and the home ministry knew of the decision, according to Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde. Shinde told NDTV that the UPA chairperson “was not part of the decision” and his Cabinet colleagues learnt of the event through television. Terming the decision to hang 26/11 terrorist Kasab “a routine” job for him, Shinde said “only the home ministry and the president of India knew of it ... it has nothing to do with the cabinet”. Asked if his Cabinet colleagues, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, were aware that the hanging was being held at 7.30 a.m. in Pune's Yerawada Jail, Shinde said, “No, no ... it appeared through television”. “It is my routine work, my nature is to keep secrecy in such things, I am trained in police,” added the minister, who took over his job in August. Relating the events leading to the hanging, Shinde said that he signed the file on Kasab, and sent it to the president with the note that mercy should not be considered. President Mukherjee signed the file on Nov. 5 and returned it the same day. However, Shinde was away in Rome attending an Interpol meeting and returned after two days. He returned and ‘saw the top secret file which said that the President had refused the request for mercy petition'. He also denied that the entire hush-hush operation was known as ‘Operation X'. ‘I don't call it Operation X,' he said. He told the news channel that the high level of secrecy was required so that petitions in courts and human rights activists could be ‘avoided'. To a question on the impact of the hanging in Pakistan, Shinde said that he was in touch with the Pakistan government and his counterpart. “He has promised he will cooperate ... Pakistan is also suffering from terrorism and infiltration ... and it is time that both of us consult each other,” Shinde said. Asked if his ministry had taken a decision on parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, Shinde said he would deal with the file when it comes to him. Meanwhile, the Taliban threatened revenge Thursday unless India returns the body of Kasab. Pakistani Taliban spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan demanded that Kasab's body be given back to his family or handed over to the Taliban. “If his body is not given to us or his family, we will, God willing, carry on his mission,” Ahsan told The Associated Press by telephone from an undisclosed location. “We will take revenge for his murder.” Indian officials accuse Pakistan's intelligence agency of working with Lashkar-e-Taiba to plan the attack — an allegation Islamabad denies. Lashkar-e-Taiba was formed with the help of Pakistani intelligence over two decades ago to put pressure on India over the disputed territory of Kashmir. Pakistan has since banned the group but many analysts believe the group still enjoys state support. Unlike Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistani Taliban have focused their fight against the Pakistani government, not India. The group has rarely spoken out about issues related to India, making its comments about Kasab unusual. Ahsan, the Taliban spokesman, said the group was unsure whether Kasab was working on behalf of Pakistani intelligence. “If he was used by someone, then it was between him and God,” said Ahsan. “If he did all this to please God and was not used by someone, we will complete his mission.” — Agencies
