India asks Pakistan to increase security at embassy
Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid. — File Photo by AFP
NEW DELHI: India asked Pakistan to increase security at its embassy, officials said on Thursday after the execution of militant Ajmal Kasab who was hanged for his role in the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
India notified Pakistan on Tuesday of the imminent execution and asked for higher security out of fear of demonstrations or possible reprisals.
Kasab admitted to being a member of Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, which remains a powerful force in the violence-torn country which is home to numerous armed anti-India groups.
“We did ask for precautionary measures in terms of protecting our diplomats in Pakistan. We sent a missive to that effect,” Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid told foreign journalists late on Wednesday after the execution.
An Indian foreign ministry spokesman confirmed on Thursday that the demand had been made as “there was a need for extra security”.
Taliban threats
The Indian move was following a threat by the TTP reported by Reuters on Thursday to attack Indian targets to avenge the country’s execution of Mohammad Ajmal Kasab, the lone survivor of the militant squad responsible for a rampage through Mumbai that killed 166 people in 2008.
“We have decided to target Indians to avenge the killing of Ajmal Kasab,” Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location.
The TTP spokesman also demanded that Kasab’s body be returned by Indian authorities. Ehsanullah Ehsan told news agency the Associated Press that Kasab’s body must be given back to his family or handed over to the Taliban.
Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, 25, was hanged at a prison in western India after being convicted of “waging war on India” for his role in the three-day assault on India’s commercial capital that left 166 people dead.
Kasab, a former labourer and small-time criminal, was the only survivor out of 10 heavily-armed gunmen who laid siege to the city in what was intended as a suicide mission.
People in Pakistan are free to, and have the right to, demonstrate on any issue. Even if you had hard-liners (terrorist sympathisers) protesting it doesn’t necessarily represent the ‘popular sentiment’ which most Indians seem to refer to so often. We are a living, breathing, intelligent nation that has its share of corrupt leaders who do not provide justice to its own people, what do you Indians expect? Rationalise your expectations, both countries have their hands in the honey pot with neither cleaner than the other. What is needed is a sincere people to people process that reverses the years of conditioning on both sides to allow us to mingle without prejudice. Happy to see such large Indian readership here.
It is funny that Taliban wants to avenge execution of Ajmal Kasab. Wasn’t killing of 166 innocent Indians enough for them.
“Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location.”
Undisclosed location yeah right! Everyone knows where LeT top brass lives under the state patronage of Pakistan, forget this spokesperson.
and pakistan claims, it has no relation with kasab and his wrongdoings !
“asked for higher security out of fear of demonstrations or possible reprisals”.. nevermind the fact that democratic nations are not supposed to ‘fear’ demonstrations but in this case the Indian officials might have even welcomed any demonstrations against the hanging of a convicted terrorist. Would have just illustrated what they are up against.. not just the terrorists but the kind of popular sentiment that breeds them.