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Kasab's hanging came a bit late: Smita Salaskar

November 21, 2012 10:25 IST

Smita Salaskar, the widow of slain encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar, who fell to terrorists' bullets in the 26/11 attacks, talks to Rediff.com's Prasanna D Zore about the hanging of Ajmal Kasab

Smita said that hanging Kasab doesn't close the matter as far as she and her family is concerned.

For her and her daughter Divya, there will be closure only after the Pakistan government hangs Lashkar-e-Tayiba chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed and all other masterminds of the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai.

"If the masterminds are brought to book in Pakistan, only then will the matter come to a close," said Smita from her Goregaon residence over the phone to rediff.com.

She said that she was happy that the law followed its own course, but expressed disappointment that Kasab's hanging came this late. She said that India doesn't believe in kangaroo courts and the whole world knows that now.

"I am not saying that Kasab should have been hanged immediately, but the noose came to him a tad to late,"

"We gave a fair trial to Kasab. The Indian government should now expedite the handing of proofs to Pakistan of the involvement of the LeT, and they should also be punished in Pakistan as per the law of the land," she said.

"My life is the same as it was on the morning of November 26, 2008. Nothing has changed for me," Smita said, expressing the lacuna left in her life by her husband's death.

Speaking about her daughter Divya who has finished her MBA from the United Kingdom, and who is now in India she said "Divya is getting married in February 2013."
Prasanna D Zore in Mumbai