DON'T SHED TEARS FOR YAKUB MEMON By S Balakrishnan 1. I find that suddenly so many persons are coming forward to not only plead for leniency for Yakub Memon, but even defend this traitor. A Samajwadi Party guy even sought to compare Yakub to Shahid Bhagat Singh. What an insult to the great revolutionary. 2. Sections of the media is trying to make out that Yakub was unaware of his brother Tiger planning the serial blasts and that he, as a chartered accountant, only handled his business finances. The TADA court and the Supreme Court had gone through in great detail the case of the prosecution and Yakub' s defence and come to the inescapable conclusion that Yakub was very much a part of the conspiracy to bomb Mumbai. 3. Yakub fully knew what was going to happen on March 12 , 1993 that's why, like a rat, he escaped to Dubai and from there to Pakistan. If he had even an iota of love for India, he would have alerted the authorities of the impending danger. He did no such thing. Instead, he accepted the hospitality of Pakistan. 4. The ISI gave him Pakistani passport, a Pakistani national ID card, a posh bungalow to stay and money to start a business. 5. He not only handled the ticketing and finances of the anti-nationals going to Pakistan for training in arms and explosives. Btw RDX was first used in Mumbai after WW II. Yakub lived in Al Hussaini bldg in Mahim where arms and RDX were stored. And he did not know what the suitcases handed to him by Anwar Theba contained? How very innocent. 6. It is being claimed that Yakub surrender ed to Indian authorities. The fact is that he arrived in Kathmandu from Karachi. While he was returning to Karachi, the large bunch of keys in his briefcase made the Nepali policeman manning the X Ray suspicious. The bag was opened and several Indian passports tumbled out. The cops wondered what the Indian passports were doing in a Pakistani passport-holder's bag. They alerted Indian authorities and the rest is history. 7. Some persons are claiming that the 12 blasts, which killed 257 innocents and seriously injured 713 , were a "reaction " to the Jan, '93 violence spearheaded by the Shiv Sena. 8. The fact is that Muslim youths angered by the Babri masjid demolition spontaneously resorted to violence. Congress' Sudhakar Naik was the CM. The police opened fire, in which about 120 people were killed. The situation was brought under control. 9. A faction within the Congress vehemently opposed to Naik, hoped that PM Narasimha Rao would remove Naik. Rao did no such thing. 10. Hence the Dawood Ibrahim gang was asked to provoke communal violence. Innocent mathadi workers of Dongri and several Hindu passers by were stabbed in Bhendi Bazar area. The Radhabai chawl incident was the proverbial last straw. The Shiv Sena neatly fell into the trap laid by enemies of Naik in tandem with D Company. Mumbai witnessed brutal violence in which mostly innocent Muslims were killed. This time around, Rao had no choice but remove Naik. 11. The ant-Naik faction had achieved its objective with the help of Dawood, whose friendship with you -know-who is well known. 12. The Muslims were seething with anger.The ISI smelt a huge opportunity to strike at India. It used Dawood Ibrahim and Tiger Memon to mastermind the blasts. It was a part of Pakistan 's strategy to bleed India for not relinquishing its claim over Kashmir and for dividing Pakistan in 1971. 13. My submission is that if Rao had asked Naik to step down after the Babri violence in Dec 1992 , there would have been no riots in Jan' 93 and the ISI would not have got a chance to strike at India. I am of the firm opinion that the Srikrishna report should be implemented. But, let us not ignore the Pakistani dimension to the blasts. 14. Participation in a criminal conspiracy is a substantial crime in itself. Conspiracy is punishable independent of its frution. 15. This is time for all Indians to come together irrespective of our religious affiliations and collectively face the problem of Pakistani terrorism. Let us not again fall into the ISI 's trap. Let us not shed tears for Yakub. Jai Hind! !
