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| Sharp division over hanging Afzal Guru | | editorial | |
With Afzal Guru's wife moving mercy petition for her husband, before
the President of India, the stage is set for deferring the hanging of
Afzal, on October 20, as ordered by a Delhi Court earlier. The
postponement of the date of execution of death penalty on the convict,
in the 1999 Parliament attack case, one argument presented by those
pleading for clemency to Afzal that his hanging on the last Friday of
Muslim holy month of Ramazan and close by the Eid festival, will carry
a wrong message among the Muslims, will become in fructuous. Amidst
violent demonstrations and protests against the issue of black
warrants for the execution of Afzal Guru and pleadings by some main
stream politician and even some social workers as well as human
rightists, for sparing the life of Afzal, a counter campaign against
the President commuting the death sentence has been launched. The
family members of the security personnel killed in the Parliament
House attack, while performing their duty, have submitted a memorandum
to the President urging upon him to not grant pardon to the main
accused in the terrorist attack, which killed their husbands or sons.
Any pardon to the convict of heinous crime will be a denial of justice
towards those who laid down their lives to defend the highest seat of
Indian democracy. However, Afzal Guru and his accomplices who plotted
and executed the plan of attack on Indian Parliament are not only the
culprits of those whose family members were killed in the incident,
but of the entire nation. The entire nation is watching eagerly the
turn of events that take place and how the President of India conducts
in the matter and what advice does the government of India renders to
the President in the matter. The nation as a whole has stake in the
matter. On one hand there is the question of precedent being set for
the future by the decision of the President and its fall out. On the
other hand circumventing a judicial verdict, taken after full legal
course adopted, will have its own fall out. Any surrender before the
pressure and threats of the execution of Guru leading to escalation of
terrorist violence will only weaken our resolve to fight against
terrorism and will have a demoralizing affect on the security forces
risking their lives in fighting against terrorism. Similarly
circumventing of judicial verdict in the face of demonstrations and
threats will only make a mockery of our judicial system. Hashim
Quareshi, the hijackers of Indian Air lines Dakota flight to Lahore,
in 1971 has posed a pertinent question to all the separatists and
secessionists outfits, who are pleading for clemency to Afzal Guru, on
the plea that he could not defend his case properly, as to where were
they at the time when the case was being tried in the Courts and why
they failed then to provide legal defense to the then accused. Against
this NC president Farooq Abdullah's contention that hanging of Guru
will lead to militancy going out of control has an element of a
defeatist mentality in it. His other argument that the issue has lead
to a sharp division between the Kashmiris, who are for clemency to
Afzal and the people in the rest of the country, who are against any
such pardon, is totally unfounded and baseless. The voice of reasoning
and dissent against high pitched shouting in the valley is muffled. If
this argument is to be given some weight, then one can also argue that
since there is strong voice in Kashmir valley in favour of secession
and hence the same should be conceded.
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