Pakistan quietly absorbed the news of India executing Ajmal Kasab - the lone terrorist nabbed alive in the November 2008 Mumbai terror attacks - on Wednesday morning. While there was no official reaction for four hours after the execution, the media also moved away from the story rather early in the day.
Clearly, it was not the equivalent of the print media's “stop press'' moment for television channels as they returned to their regular programming after the initial pandering to the ‘breaking news' syndrome. And within hours, it was just a headline; dropping down in importance as the clock ticked.
Even on the social media, reactions were slow to come by. Some civil society activists tried to moderate the discourse by reposting/retweeting the less celebratory voices coming out of India while arguing against efforts in Pakistan to rake up the Sarabjeet Singh issue. Amid calls for hanging Sarabjeet Singh - facing death sentence for terror attacks in Faislabad and Lahore in 1991 -- in response, journalist and civil society activist Beena Sarwar tweeted: ``Stop comparing them. Sarabjeet has spent over 20 years in prison, there are doubts regarding his identity, main witness says he gave wrong evidence.''
Meanwhile, NGOs working in Okara - where Kasab's native village Faridkot is located - maintain that his family had moved out of the area and their house is right now occupied by his maternal uncle's family. Reporters who have visited the area in recent days ahead of the fourth anniversary of the Mumbai terror attacks said a shroud of silence hangs heavy in the village whenever Kasab is mentioned as locals try to move away from the story that brought international spotlight on them.
