A few days ago, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee announced that the mother of Ajmal Kasab, the lone 26/11 terrorist captured alive, was keen to meet her son. And then the story suddenly died. Apparently, a mentally deranged woman, engaged in a messy divorce battle, landed at the maximum security prison where Kasab was being held. Claiming to be his mother, she insisted on seeing him.
But the jail authorities had no instructions. Soon the matter reached the Ministry of External Affairs. And in no time, Mukherjee was milking the information for publicity on the campaign trail. There were a number of red faces in the ministry and Mumbai police, but there was little they could do other than maintain a stony silence.
