As Lulu, my
parrot, descended on the mango tree, he called me out. I looked out of the
window and there he was sitting on the branch. The mango tree was in full
blossom and was looking very beautiful. It caught my attention. I did not
notice Lulu, my parrot, sitting on one of the branches. Lulu called again.
“Hey! I am
here” lulu shouted and whistled.
“Good to
see you, Lulu. Oh, you look so exhausted, what’s the matter?”
“Well, it
was a flight for my life. A falcon was chasing me. I managed to escape
somehow.”
“Good God!
It is really a fight for survival there in the animal kingdom.” I said. “It
must be very tough; you have to be on your guard all the time.”
“Fight for
survival in animal kingdom? Yes, but you seem to exclude human beings, that is
not fair. They are also a part of the animal kingdom.” Lulu responded. “But
there is a difference. A big difference.”
“What’s
that?” I asked.
“Falcons
attack other birds only when they are looking out for food. Men hang other men
when it serves his political agenda,” Lulu observed. “Just see what happened to
Afzal Guru.”
“Don’t talk
about him. If anybody attacks our parliament he must be hanged, no mercy
certainly.” I said. “Moreover, the Supreme Court held him guilty. He should
have been hanged much earlier.”
“Well,
well! What a shoddy process followed in his trial! Isn’t it a dilemma of means
versus end? And there is another issue on which you men have no discussion at
all!” Lulu said.
“Which
issue?”
“The issue
is also what the purpose of punishment is. Do you punish for deterrence, rehabilitation
or for retribution? Deterrence has failed, no doubt. How do you handle a
terrorist? And how do you handle a person who has committed a crime against his
or her countrymen?”
“When it
comes to crime against the State, retribution is the answer, no other. I mean,
people like Kasab and Afzal deserve death penalty. If they don’t who will?”
“That’s an
interesting argument. But haven’t whites in South Africa committed heinous
crimes against the blacks and when the apartheid was gone, what was their fate?”
“What was
their fate?” I asked.
“The Truth
and Reconciliation Commission did a splendid job of rehabilitation. Why can’t you
experiment, like they did?”
“Hmmm…. But I don’t think it will work when it comes
to terrorists.”
“Why not? Where
will it work? Don’t you think Nelson Mandela also must have been haunted by
such thoughts when he sought to establish Truth and Reconciliation Commission?”
“I really
don’t know.”
“Look, if
not in Kashmir, it could have been tried in Gujarat. It could have been tried
after Mumbai riots. But it takes a strong will and leadership to experiment
with concepts that bring peace slowly and surely.”
“You mean
to say that this episode has also exposed lack of leadership among those in
power, whether at New Delhi or in State Capitals?”
“That’s my “helicopter
view” of the issue.” Lulu said as he flew and perched on my shoulder.
Vivek