Afzal Guru wants capital punishment for himself!

By: Subhadeep Bhattacharjee

The indecisiveness in the Indian polity is enough to even frustrate a terrorist. The parliament attack conspirator Mohammad Afzal Guru who has been sentenced to death wants a quick decision on his mercy petition, whatever the outcome. The militant who originates from Kashmir has said that he is fed up with his solitary confinement and delay in the outcome of his mercy petition. In a plea filed by him he has requested the government either to hang him or decide on his mercy petition soon.

The Congress led government at the centre is sitting ideal on the case as they believe his hanging might cause a tilt in his vote bank with leaders in the Kashmir valley having warned of serious repercussions in the event of capital punishment being carried out on him. His mercy petition is lying with the government with the Sheela Dixit led Delhi state government having taken 4 long years to move the file between two tables! They fear that the Congress might seem to look anti-Muslim if the sentence is carried out.

The politicians can afford to sit over the case as not a single of their clan even had a scratch when the terrorists had barged into the parliament. Security men and women had sacrificed their lives to ensure that all of them remained safe. This was one of the worst terrorists attacks in the country and perhaps the most talked about in the country before the Mumbai carnage of 2008 where the sole terrorist caught alive Kasab has been awarded death sentence by the court recently. The Afzal Guru case has since then shot back to limelight.

Guru’s mercy petition is number 29 with the President of India. J&K chief minister Omar Abdulhha wants the President to take decision on the 28 pending cases before considering the mercy petition of Guru. This he believes is more important than dealing with a special case. It needs to be noted that apart from the case of Nalini the co-accused in the killing of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi most of the people in that list haven’t committed any crime against the state.

Some leaders in the Kashmir valley have openly said that Guru cannot be hanged since he is a Kashmiri. Isn’t that an insult to the brave men and women who died defending the same politicians who don’t seem to honour their sacrifice? What is the President of India doing sitting over so many mercy petitions. This kind of politics can only demoralise the men in uniform who bravely defend their motherland. Would our politicians have done the same if some of their colleagues would have been killed in that attack? The country needs answers and the government should not play with the emotions of the people anymore.