Warning India of grave consequences if 2001-Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru is hanged, Hurriyat Conference (M) chairman, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has said that India’s decision to reject Guru’s mercy plea was a glaring contradiction to its claims of being keen on resolving the Kashmir issue through dialogue and confidence building measures.
Addressing a gathering at the historic Jamia Masjid, Mirwaiz said it was ironic that New Delhi was talking of resolving the Kashmir issue through dialogue with Pakistan on one hand while human rights violations, such as the Sopore custodial killing and Poonch fake encounter, continued unabated on the other hand.
“And now there is talk of hanging Afzal Guru; the Indian home ministry has rejected his mercy plea and recommended the same to the President. All this at a time when New Delhi is talking of confidence building measures to improve the ground situation in Kashmir and resolve the issue through talks,” he said, adding “one is tempted to ask the policy makers and rulers in New Delhi if hanging Afzal Guru is also part of these so-called Kashmir-centric CBMs.”
“If Afzal Guru is hanged, not only would the peace process between India and Pakistan be derailed, but the situation in Kashmir would take a serious turn,” he added.
Mirwaiz said, “communal” forces like the Bharatiya Janata Party in India wanted to see Guru on the gallows for their own political ends. “They are raising hue and cry over this issue just because of their vote-bank and communal politics,” he said.
He warned that if any decision is taken in haste in the Guru case, it would have serious repercussions in Kashmir.
Flaying the curbs on his movement and “random arrests of innocent youth”, Mirwaiz said the government was disturbing the ambience of the holy month of Ramadan by such activities.
“We know that the rulers don’t care about Ramadan, but they should at least allow Muslims to live with peace during this holy month,” he said.
The Mirwaiz also lambasted the right wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), accusing it of mounting pressure on the central government for Afzal’s hanging.
The union home ministry has sent the mercy petition of Afzal Guru waiting on death row in Tihar Jail to the President with the recommendations that it be rejected.
Afzal Guru was found guilty of plotting the Dec 13, 2001 parliament attack in which nine people were killed. He was sentenced to death in 2002. The Delhi High Court confirmed the death penalty in 2003. The sentence was scheduled to be carried out Oct 20, 2006 after the Supreme Court upheld it in 2004.
But the execution was stayed following a mercy petition filed by his wife. He remains on death row.
