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No
to the noose: Protesting Afzal Guru’s death sentence
in Srinagar |
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‘Afzal's
trial was not fair, just and transparent. As Kashmiris, we have to support him,'
said Altaf Hussain, a student |
The Kashmir Valley
has been shaken afresh following the death sentence handed out to Mohammed
Afzal Guru, who was convicted in the Parliament attack case and is to
be hanged on October 20. Cutting across party lines — the mainstream
as well as separatists — leaders have come together to seek a
review of the death sentence awarded to Afzal. This is the first time
that the fringe and the mainstream have converged on a cause.
In view of the growing
unrest in the Valley against the verdict, even Jammu and Kashmir Chief
Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad is reported to have urged for a sympathetic
consideration of presidential clemency to Afzal in a meeting with Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh. Following Azad’s outburst, the Congress
is tight-lipped to prevent the BJP from making political capital out of
it.
Congress ally People’s
Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti also said that keeping in view
the humanitarian aspect and the sentiments of the Valley, the Centre needs
to do something about it. “Every party in Jammu and Kashmir should
appeal to the President for mercy,” she said on television. The
main Opposition party, the National Conference, seconded her view. nc
president Omar Abdullah said executing Afzal would have the potential
to squander the peace process with Pakistan and make matters worse. Massive
protests continued in the Valley over the death sentence to Afzal. Unlike
the protests over the first two days that were led by separatists, people
including women in Srinagar and other towns took to the streets to register
their protest. People from all walks of life joined the protests. It was
like the public outrage following the Srinagar sex scandal.
Police and protestors
clashed in several places during these demonstrations leading to normal
life being affected across the Valley. On September 29, breakaway Hurriyat
chief Syed Ali Geelani, with the support of militant outfit Hizbul Mujahideen,
and the Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association and many other
groups, called for a bandh. Shops in almost all parts of the state downed
their shutters in solidarity with the protestors.
Angry youth pelted
stones and clashed with police and Central Reserve Police Force personnel.
Shouting slogans and carrying placards which read “Don’t
hang Afzal”, the protestors hurled rocks and other missiles at
police vehicles and made a bonfire of tyres to register their protest.
Police fired in the air and used water cannons to disperse the demonstrators.
From Doabagh, Afzal’s
village in Sopore, a protest march was taken out by Jammu and Kashmir
Liberation Front (JKLF) chairman Yasin Malik and saw thousands attending
it. The protestors demanded the revocation of Afzal’s death sentence.
Special prayers were also offered at mosques across the Valley for the
convict. Malik is also seeking support of eminent lawyers, journalists,
intellectuals and human rights activists to garner support for Afzal.
Several prominent people including writer Arundhati Roy have been asked
to support the ‘Save Afzal campaign,’ said a JKLF spokesman
in Srinagar.
Meanwhile, Afzal’s
family members have reached New Delhi and met him in Tihar jail on Tuesday.
The family appealed
to President APJ Abdul Kalam to pardon Afzal. Earlier, his mother caused
a stir in the Valley by her statement that if her son is hanged she
would be a proud mother.
The Jammu and Kashmir
Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS) has initiated a campaign to collect
at least 10,000 signatures in Afzal’s favour and send it to the
President for consideration.
“Afzal was
denied a fair trial. That’s why we have launched this campaign
to save him. So far we have managed to collect 6,000 signatures in two
days,” said JKCCS programme coordinator Khuram Parvez.
“It is a
novel way to express our resentment against the death penalty to Afzal,
whose trial we believe was not conducted in a fair, just and transparent
manner. We, as Kashmiris, have to support him,” said Altaf Hussain,
a student.
CPM leader MY Tarigami
advocates that people’s verdict should be recognised. “At
my level I have been holding consultations with leaders across the country
to persuade them to use their good offices to get Afzal’s sentence
revoked. Going by the statements in the press that Afzal was not put
on fair trail and that there were lacuna in procedure, the President
should consider the clemency petition,” says Tarigami.
In the Parliament
attack case, the Supreme Court acquitted Delhi University lecturer SAR
Geelani and Afsan Guru, wife of another convict Shaukat Guru. The apex
court also converted Shaukat Guru’s death sentence to 10 years
rigorous imprisonment.
Jammu and Kashmir
Bar Association President, Mian Qayoom said that Afzal has not been
given a chance to prove his innocence. “The court has itself said
the death sentence has been given to satisfy the collective conscience
of the Indian nation,” Qayoom, who led a protest march of lawyers
in Srinagar, said. The New Delhi-based rights group People’s Union
for Democratic Rights has also condemned the death sentence.
Although the New
Delhi and Kashmir might disagree on the Afzal verdict, another Maqbool
Bhat is in the making.
Also
see Page 25: Why Afzal Must Not Be Executed |
