Why does Pakistan love Afzal Guru more than Ajmal Kasab?

What has hid in the cupboard for years has now tumbled out. There is a heap of skeletons, much of which we suspected all along. Even the niceties of diplomatic expression that drape caustic intent have fallen asunder.

With Pakistan’s National Assembly or its lower house of Parliament passing a resolution condemning the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru and demanding the return of his body to his family, it is clear Pakistan has formally endorsed the attack on the Indian Parliament! Its malicious purposes against India have come out in the open than being cunningly shrouded by the lip service done by the designer conscious Hina Rabbani Khar. For example, we were once told that evidence given to Pakistan on 26/11 was a mere “piece of literature”. In light of the resolution on Afzal Guru moved by Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, at least India seeks no confirmation on Pakistan’s involvement in causing trouble. This is concrete enough proof. Incidentally, Fazlur Rehman has been guest in India and has enjoyed our hospitality. What is nauseatic is the extent of their duplicity. Pakistan is shedding crocodile tears on Afzal Guru because they wish to fish in the troubled waters of Kashmir, but they refuse to even acknowledge the fact that Ajmal Kasab was a Pakistani! How can they continue to be in denial mode when Kasab’s siblings, parents and even the street on which his house stands has been identified in Faridkot, about 150 kms from Lahore. Why was there no murmur from the Parliament of Pakistan and only Imran Khan went to town about wanting to get Sarabjit hanged in a tit for tat when Kasab was sent to the gallows? Because Pakistan has been denying links with the Mumbai attacks in all international fora even though it is well established that handlers in Pakistan directed the entire operation of 26/11. Pakistan continues to remain Janus faced, a point brought out strongly by Thomas Friedman in his article ‘Calling All Pakistanis’. In the piece, the New York Times columnist had questioned how Pakistan and the Muslim world would have felt if India had perpetuated terror on its soil. He wrote: “After all, if 10 young Indians from a splinter wing of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party travelled by boat to Pakistan, shot up two hotels in Karachi and the central train station, killed at least 173 people, and then, for good measure, murdered the imam and his wife at a Saudi-financed mosque while they were cradling their 2-year-old son — purely because they were Sunni Muslims — where would we be today? The entire Muslim world would be aflame and in the streets.” While we need to ask Pakistan to do some introspection about the long term consequences of its strategy, India too must mull over why we are increasingly looking like a banana republic, which is openly dared by tiny nations like Bangladesh, Maldives and Italy. Clearly, strongly worded opposition and counter resolutions are only symbolic and of limited value. We need to walk the talk when it comes to taking a tough stance, unless we want to keep getting insulted like this.