Ten years ago, the vanguard of Indian democracy, the Parliament was attacked by Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists. The attack led to the death of innocent Indians. It unprecedentedly increased tensions between India and Pakistan at the Kashmir border. Afzal Guru, a Kashmiri was convicted of this attack and was sentenced to death by the Supreme Court of India in 2004. The police case was based on evidence that the individuals who participated on the terrorist attack on Indian Parliament on 13 December 2001 had been in contact with Afzal in Srinagar just prior to the operation, and on an apparent confession made by the accused. The sentence was scheduled to be carried out on 20 October 2006.
Afzal was given a stay of execution and remains on death row. Now the point is, it has been more than 5 years since the decision made by the Supreme Court of India to hang Afzal Guru but still he is alive. According to the opposition parties, the UPA Government is not finalizing the decision just to appease their so called Muslim voters.
I would quote one of the important lines form the Supreme Court’s judgment.
“The incident, which resulted in heavy casualties, has shaken the entire nation and the collective conscience of the society will be satisfied if the capital punishment is awarded to the offender.”
Human rights activists (Arundhati Roy and Praful Bidwai) have castigated the complete trial and argued that Afzal has been denied natural justice. This means that they don’t have any faith in the Supreme Court of India. Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, who is one of the senior leaders of Indian National Congress, has supported clemency for Afzal. Jammu and Kashmir People’s Democratic Party president and MP, Mehbooba Mufti also thinks that the Government should pardon Afzal whereas Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) viewpoint is completely different. ITs spokesperson’s Prakash Javadekar says that:
“Those who are supporting Afzal by demanding that he should not be hanged are not only acting against public sentiment in the country but are giving a fillip to terrorist morale,”
These high profile human right activists, intellectuals and muslim vote bank seekers have made India a soft nation for criminals and terrorists. Surprisingly, India is a country where crores are spent on terrorists like Afzal Guru and Kasab, but social activist such as Anna Hazare is harassed and sent to Tihar Jail. The convicts who did not show mercy for the lives of innocent people, deserves no mercy at all. Enemies of the great Indian republic must be hanged. 12 innocent Indians were killed after meticulous planning by Afzal Guru and his gang. This was a cold blooded murder with intention to destabilise the nation. He deserves no sympathy.
On 10th of August 2011 the home ministry of India rejected the mercy petition and sent a letter to the President of India recommending the death penalty. It means that now there should not be any confusion. The Government of India should go ahead and hang this terrorist. This will set an example for other like minded Pakistani terrorists and help the polity to bring down the whopping number of ever increasing terror attacks. I don’t think any leniency with this class of terrorists will be good for national integrity and sovereignty. However this attitude of ours is encouraging the Pakistani terrorists to pursue the heinous acts of terrorism with more confidence and conviction.
Don’t forgive Afzal Guru anymore, just hang him till death!
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