It will come as no surprise if Pakistani militant Ajmal Amir Kasab is sentenced to death today in India for the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attacks. He has the option of appealing against the sentence to the High Court, and then to the Supreme Court and, furthermore, filing for a mercy petition with the president of India. But whether he is eventually executed or sentenced to life in jail, there will be no closure whatsoever for the families of the 26/11 victims so long as the masterminds of the attack are not punished. And going by the initial reactions in Pakistan to last Monday's guilty verdict against Kasab, it's unlikely that progress toward this end can be made any time soon, regardless of the recent agreement by prime ministers Manmohan Singh and Yousaf Raza Gilani, at the insistence of the United States, to rebuild Indo-Pakistan relations. Pakistanis have seized upon the acquittal of two Indians implicated in the attacks, Fahim Ansari and Sabauddin Ahmed, on the grounds of flawed evidence, as reason to doubt India's claims of having proof that the Mumbai attacks were planned in Pakistan. Indians, however, trumpet the verdict, though grudgingly, as further proof of the fairness and transparency of their country's legal process, pointing to the contrasting closed-door process in Pakistan of the 20 alleged conspirators facing trial there. The accused in Pakistan include Lashkar and Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Sayeed and Lashkar commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi. Also on trial are Abu Hamza, Abu Kaahfa, Zarar Shah and Abu Al-Kama and a retired major general who was allegedly present during the training of the Mumbai attackers. Their counsel, Khwaja Sultan, has already claimed that the acquittal of Fahim Ansari and Sabauddin Ahmed would result in the main charge being dropped against his clients and they will be granted bail. India doubts Pakistan's determination to crack down on the terror outfits operating from its soil. But there's no reason just yet to extend such doubt to the country's judiciary. After having toppled former president Pervez Musharraf and reclaimed power intact, the judiciary is perhaps the only body in that country that has any rightful claim to credibility. A former Pakistani minister made this argument on Indian television earlier this week. Speaking about the Gilani government's refusal to kowtow to Indian demands, the minister said the government was only abiding by the dictates of a fastidious judiciary, serving “just as a postman” in seeking clarifications from India about the so-called evidence it has given Pakistan against the alleged 26/11 perpetrators, especially Lakhvi and Hafiz Sayeed. What's hampering the judiciary's job is the incessant accusations by India, the US, Britain and even the United Nations against the “establishment” that's seen as ruling the roost in Pakistan. The UN, in its report on the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, defined it as “the de facto power structure that has as its permanent core the military high command and intelligence agencies, in particular, the powerful, military-run Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) as well as Military Intelligence (MI) and the Intelligence Bureau (IB).” Pakistan's Daily Times newspaper, in damning the UN finding, blamed President Asif Ali Zardari for giving further credence to the “establishment vs. government” argument. It said, “It is a notorious fact that he distrusted the army, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the security and intelligence agencies. A UN probe would put them in the dock, ‘tame' them and enable him to establish his control over them. He little realized that success would be bought at a very high price and with far-reaching consequences.” More charges against the “establishment” may be expected when Indian authorities get to question David Coleman Headley who has pleaded guilty to conspiring to bomb sites in India and aiding and abetting in the 26/11 attacks. US investigators already link Headley to the “establishment.” Reports say he has the details of the nexus between the Pakistan military and the Jihadi groups and how they operate. The arrest of Shahzad Faisal, a US citizen of Pakistani origin at the weekend in connection with a failed car bombing in New York City further compounds problems for the Gilani government which has a tough balancing act to do in distancing itself from accusations of abetting terrorism while attempting to convince the “establishment” that Pakistan's national interests will not be sacrificed in the process. Faisal is the son of a retired air vice marshall in Pakistan. The Mumbai court's verdict on the 26/11 attacks, apart from the acquittal of the two Indians, was also extraordinary in that it was for the first time in Indian judicial history that a court of law has established Pakistan's involvement in an act of terrorism and of waging war against India. Judge M.L. Tahaliyani conclusion legally seals the hostility between the two nuclear armed South Asian neighbors, marking a point of no return in their record of bilateral relations. As such, Pakistan's judiciary is not expected to take Tahaliyani's ruling lightly, not to mention the pressure it will come under to issue a counter-blow of no less impact. How the judiciary acts in the weeks and months ahead will determine its standing in the eyes of the world, whether it is part of the so-called “establishment” or not. – SG Feedback: [email protected] __
