26/11 memorial unveiled; 'swift' hanging of Kasab demanded

A memorial for the security personnel killed in the 26/11 Mumbai attack was unveiled here today in the presence of family members of the martyrs who demanded "immediate" execution of Ajmal Kasab.

The Shaheed Smriti Udyan was unveiled in Bhuinj in Satara district, from where braveheart Tukaram Ombale hailed.

Ombale's daughter, Vandana, said the memorial is a permanent tribute to the martyrs. "The sentence of Kasab should be executed swiftly," she demanded.

Smita Salaskar, widow of police inspector Vijay Salaskar, said people should come forward to pressurise the government
for executing the death sentence of Kasab immediately.

"Kasab has been sentenced to death...I feel this process would drag on for the next two years. Is there not going to be any change in the existing system? Can't we treat this as an exceptional case?" she said.

Vinita Kamte, slain IPS officer Ashok Kamte's wife, said this was the first time she was attending any function in memory of the 26/11 martyrs.

"This is because Ashok had worked in Satara as SP and also the fact that his bodyguard Jayavant Patil, killed in the attacks, was also from Satara district," she said.

Special public prosecutor in 26/11 trial Ujjwal Nikam said the memorial would serve to inspire coming generations and would encourage them to do acts of valour for the country. 

"Kasab was nearly a pawn in the hands of the other country...we did the job of teaching that country a lesson," Nikam said.

"With the swift conclusion of the 26/11 case, a message has gone out in the world that when it comes to such cases we deliver justice swiftly," he said. 

In an apparent reference to the demand for hanging Kasab immediately, Nikam said "an eye for an eye is not our culture
...we let the judiciary dispense the justice."

Dwelling on the fast pace of the trial, Nikam said there were doubts raised at the Government-level that 26/11 case would also drag on like 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, which went on for 14 years.

Justice P B Sawant blamed "politicians who are after money" for terror attacks in various countries. He also alleged that private sector, in collusion with certain economists, was trying to defame the co-operative sector.

Madan Bhosale, chairman of Kisan Veer Satara Co-operative sugar factory, who conceptualised and built the memorial,
announced that a member from families of each of the four
26/11 martyrs in the jurisdiction of the factory would be
given jobs at the sugar co-operative.