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| Rising political and regional emotions may force | | President to defer his decision on clemency petition for Guru | |
Srinagar,Oct 18
The tug-of-war between those supporting hanging of Mohd.Afzal Guru,sentenced to death on charge of his involvement in the terrorist strike on Parliament on December 13,2001,and those stoutly opposing his execution have assumed political,emotional and international dimensions.
The row between pro-Guru elements and those supporting his hanging took yet another turn when three youths at Latur in Maharashtra,claiming to be activists of one Warrior Group, announced on Wednesday that in case Mohd.Afzal Guru was not executed on October 20 they will face the gallows on their own.Pledge to this effect was taken in front of a statue of Mahatma Gandhi.
And while the activists of Mahila wing of the BJP were busy in staging anti-Guru demonstrations in Jammu a senior PDP leader and a former Deputy Chief Minister,Mr Muzaffar Hussain Baig,announced in the winter capital of the state that militancy will rise if Guru was hanged.Baig’s announcement followed National Conference patron,Dr Farooq Abdullah’s warning that if Guru was executed “the nation will go up in flames because the terrorists will do such things that will destroy the relationship between the Hindus and the Muslims.”
And amid growing political convulsions on the issue the state unit of the BJP demanded registration of a case of criminal conspiracy against Dr Farooq.It demanded that he be arrested under the Public Safety Act which provides for detention without a trial for two years.
Despite Supreme court’s ruling that clemency for Guru be not demanded or sought on political and religious considerations the dividing lines between those supporting his hanging and those opposing it are getting sharper day in and day out.While legal luminaries,politicians,academicians and human rights activists continue to dish out divergent views on the demand for clemency for Guru the state of Jammu and Kashmir witnessed a marked regional divide on the issue.
While the Kashmir valley witnessed a spate of pro-Guru demonstrations,in which students,politicians,lawyers and women participated,in Jammu ABVP,Shiv Sena,VHP and BJP made known their anti-Guru sentiments by staging protest rallies against any clemency to Guru and even torched his effigy.
The pro-Guru reaction from the Kashmiri separatists was understandable but the way some mainstream political leaders joined the chorus of those seeking clemency for Guru appeared intriguing for those claiming to be staunch nationalists.They possibly did not know that the PDP and the National Conference leaders’ utterances favouring clemency for Guru were aimed at keeping their vote bank in the Kashmir valley intact.The ball was set rolling by Chief Minister,Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad,who suggested to Prime Minister,Dr Manmohan Singh,to get Guru’s execution deferred.Though the Congress high command dissociated itself from the stand taken by Mr Azad,it did not discourage leaders belonging to the PDP and the National Conference in raking up the clemency issue.
As far as the international ramification is concerned Pakistan Government’s bid to secure clemency for Guru became evident when it announced that Islamabad could release Sarbjit Singh,who has been in detention for the last about 10 years in Pakistan jail on charge of espionage and violence, if Guru was not executed.
As the passions were mounting in the country indications are that the Centre,to be precise, the President of India,may sleep over the mercy petition submitted by the wife of Mohd.Afzal Guru.Since the Constitution of India is silent on the issue the President of India can have no legal or constitutional restrain in prolonging his decision on the mercy petition.
One thing is certain:Mohd.Afzal Guru may not face the gallows on October 20 .This is evident from immediate withdrawal of those arrangements which were to be taken for his hanging in Tihar jail where in 1984 founder President of the JKLF,Maqbool Bhat,had been executed |
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