In India: If there is a terrorist hi-jack-ing and people are held hostage: The official order would have been: keep all terrorists alive. The unofficial order would have been: if hostages live, they live, if they die, they die. Then several options: In the convoy that's taking the alive terrorists to an interrogation center: One of them can get attacked by right-wing nationalists that take one of the vehicles carrying terrorists that now are hostages. The government doesn't control right-wing nationalists and what they do to terrorists. For the terrorists left with the government, there can be daily releases in terms of pictures showing they're in good health and leaked videos to the media daily with whatever reminders the government wishes to convey to other terrorists in Afgh/Pak. Of course, daily denials of the videos. One of the terrorists can try to escape after a month or so and he can barely walk and then something can happen to him in public, maybe near where they or other terrorists attacked previously. There're a lot of options when terrorists are taken alive. I would have a field day - the fear, the hesitation, the long-term security, ohh that would be worth their terrorist world. Next attack - same thing. Break 'em. They're not opponents. Break 'em. Break their spirit, their will, their heavenly rewards, their naiyamat (the way AV sees it - if you kill 'em initially that just gets the rest of 'em all riled up because they see their mujahideen getting naiyamat 🙂), Break 'em mentally, Break 'em emotionally, Break 'em, Break 'em, to never again challenge a sovereign nation.