Forget vengeance, Tiger Memon should learn from what his brother Yakub did

‘Zaya nahin jayega, main unko chukwaonga,’ says Tiger Memon, in a conversation he reportedly had with his mother Hanifa, hours before brother Yakub was hanged. Implicit in Tiger’s words is his vow for revenge, pledge for making Yakub’s killers pay for the act, not letting his mother’s tears go waste.

But, does Tiger really know who killed Yakub? Who was responsible for letting a bright, young accountant turn first into a terrorist and then a fugitive? Who forced Yakub to spend 20 years in jail, torn between fear of impending death and hope of freedom? Who sent Yakub to the gallows? Who was Yakub’s real enemy?

Yes, the Indian state hanged Yakub. But, his death warrant was signed the moment Tiger dragged him and the rest of the family into the Mumbai bomb blasts; Yakub’s fate was sealed when his elder brother made him a co-conspirator and then a guest of the ISI.

His mother Hanifa is right. “Pehle ke vajah se mera Yakub gaya,” she told Tiger during the brief conversation. Even the mother knows her son died because of what Tiger did pehle (earlier). Will Tiger make the real culprit pay? Will he make his mother’s tears count by acting against the man who killed Yakub?

On the basis of evidence, both recorded and anecdotal, Yakub’s life can be clearly divided into two parts. Both were scripted by Tiger, first as his brother and inspiration; then as an adversary.

Before the blasts, Yakub was an enemy of the Indian state, guilty of participating in mass murder of innocent people of Mumbai. Much of this radicalization and the resultant blood-lust, it has been clearly established, was a result of Tiger’s decision to destroy Mumbai. All available accounts indicate Tiger was the original black sheep of the Memon family; a smuggler with links to the underworld and the ISI. Tiger’s evil influence played a huge role in dragging the other Memons into the vortex of crime that culminated in the tragic finale, both for Mumbai and the Memons.

After the blasts, Yakub turned into Tiger’s enemy, a role that led him to his ultimate ruin. In his interview with Madhu Trehan for Newstrack , Yakub describes in great detail his brother’s activities in Pakistan, links with Taufiq Jalianwala (the Pakistan-based mastermind of the blast) and the evidence he collected to nail his brother’s complicity.

Tiger shouldn’t forget that his brother died because he wanted to dissociate the family with his (Tiger’s) heinous crime. He returned to India, or at least had wanted to before being caught in Nepal, to establish Tiger’s guilt and tell the world that the Memons were paying for the sins of just one person in the family. Perhaps Tiger can ask himself a simple question: What did he do to save Yakub? For two decades, while Yakub tried to clear his own and family’s name, Tiger hid in his gilded cage in Pakistan, enjoying the hospitality of the ISI. Not once did he make a statement that could have helped Yakub, not once did he make any attempt to buttress Yakub’s claim that he was innocent.

This is not to say that Tiger’s statement or efforts would have made a major difference to the outcome of Yakub’s trial. But, it shows that Tiger preferred his own life and safety over that of his brother and family. His tears now, if any, would be a sham.

The least Tiger can do now is to learn from his brother’s final years. Though he waged a war against India, Yakub returned to his motherland to face the law; he ensured that his family lives in India instead of becoming glorified prisoners of the Pakistani Deep State; he fought for restoring the honour of the Memons. And, though he was a criminal, with his conduct before death, Yakub earned the sympathy of several Indians.

Or, perhaps, Tiger can listen to his own mother when she says: “Bas bahut ho gaya…ab aur main nahin dekh sakti…main nahin dekh sakti…main nahin dekh sakti.”

But, it would be too much to expect a man who betrayed his motherland to be loyal to his mother.