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| Afzal Guru hanging draws closer | | | early times report
Jammu, Nov 21: The process of hanging Afzal Guru, convicted in the Parliament attack, had been set rolling with the hanging of Ajmal Kasab, convicted in 2001 Mumbai attack, in which more than 100 people had died.
President Pranab Mukherjee has returned seven mercy petitions, including that of Parliament attack case convict Afzal Guru, for consideration of the Union Home Ministry.
According to both the Delhi Government and the Union Home Ministry had recommended that Guru's mercy petition, filed by his wife, be rejected by the President.
According to sources, the views of the J&K government had also been elicited. Sources, said the state government is skeptical about recommending his hanging fearing political backlash in the Kashmir.
However, sources said the recommendations of the J&K government may not be binding on the Home Ministry as his view and that of Delhi government, where the attack had taken place matter most and carry the weight.
The sending of the mercy petition by the President is a usual practice and sources said once they are resend the President in most likelihood reject his petition thus clearing the way for his hanging.
Sources said the hanging may take place at the end of the next year and close of Parliamentary elections.
The pressure on the Centre to hang Afzal Guru had mounted after the hanging of Kasab. BJP, cornered on the issue of firmness of the government in taking on terrorism, will use it has handle to whip up Cong for being soft on Kashmir based terrorists.
There is strong view in the Congress that if Guru should be also hanged on the lines of Kasab to not only send a stern message on its fight against terrorism but also to the separatists in Kashmir that writ of the land can't be challenged and J&K is no different from the other parts of the country.
Union Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah is against the hanging of Guru and had earlier said that his hanging will set the Kashmir on fire. The Centre is not buying this theory and also peeved up by the way separatists leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani had spurned the offer of dialogue by the Home Minister.
Shinde, a former IPS officer, unlike his predecessor P Chidambaram, is not only astute politician with political career spanning 40-yr, but also knows the rules of the game in dealing with the national security and in taking on terrorists.
He had reportedly told his Cabinet colleagues that Guru should also be hanged soon to take on Kashmiri terrorists, who are already on the receiving end. |
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