lionbikash

I was watching a debate on hanging of Afzal Guru on NDTV.
I have strong objection to the last sentence used by anchor Ms. Barkha Dutt, ‘Let’s start a debate on the hanging of Afzal Guru’.
The debate was on clemency for Afzal Guru, the person sentenced to be hanged for his involvement in the case of attack on Parliament. Now let me first present the views of the panelists.
I used to have some respect for Mr. Farookh Abdulla, former CM of J & K. But today I am shocked by his statements. Looked like he is totally confused. He was agreeing to the supremacy of Supreme Court and was asking for clemency for Afzal on the basis of sentiments of the people of valley. But he was also referring that in valley people felt that Afzal did not get proper justice (thus casting doubt on the judgment). He seemed to me confused about where he stands. On the one hand his secular mind did agree to the judicial process of India but the politician in him presently has an upper hand on what he espouses. That is what surprised me. Because till date I was having the impression that he is one of the very few politicians who is not afraid to take a stand on what he believes in. He was on his worst when he equated the condition of Afzal Guru along with Masood Azar, saying that when we could free Masood Azar, why not Afzal. He forgot that at the time of release Masood Azar was only an under trial on a less serious crime and Afzal is sentenced by the Supreme Court proved to be guilty. And secondly one wrongdoing does not call for another. It was more surprising because he is one of the direct sufferers of the ongoing Kashmir problem. Almost all the Kashmir watchers agree that two instances of similar kind of soft policy (Mufti’s daughter and Masood Azar) have increased violence substantially in the valley.
The points of Soli Sorabji, the former attorney general was logical, apolitical.
Mr. G. Parthasarathy as usual was on his best on his fight against Pakistan and terrorism. And here once again I find one of the finest brains on the subject. His points are concise, to the point, realistic devoid of any hypocrisy.
The points raised by other panelists Prof. Geelani and Mr. Yaseen Malik were in expected lines. While Prof. Geelani was insisting that Afzal did not get proper justice and Mr. Malik wanted to point out that this hanging will create more terrorists in Kashmir.
There were two more panelists one was an advocate and other a writer. They were new faces for me and I am not able to recollect their names. But their views also were in the expected lines. The advocate was giving her legal opinion and the writer of her humanitarian opinion.
A very interesting point is made by Mr. Soli Sorabji; that if tomorrow there is hanging sentence for the Gujrat riot offenders, will we be clamoring for clemency for them also? Unfortunately the anchor Ms. Dutt somehow managed to skirt the issue. I definitely would have liked to hear the responses from the Kashmiri leaders and the human rights activists. I am quite sure that the human rights activists will clamor for more sever punishment for them.
Now, back to the last comment by Ms. Dutt, let’s start a debate on the subject. How can you start a debate on a subject, which already have seen three tiers of judicial procedure? Like the Air force chief did yesterday I would like to sing like Govinda, ‘This happens only in India.’ The case of Afzal Guru took its own logical course from trial court to Delhi High court and lastly to Supreme court. Now where is the scope of any debate? If at all there were any case of debate those should have been taken care off during these legal processes. Those humanitarians, who tells that proper procedure was not followed, where were they earlier? Why did not they raise objection during the legal procedures.
Today on the one hand we are crying that the legal system of India is so slow that people are loosing faith on our judicial system. They site the example of spread of Maoists who take recourses of violence to get justice. On the other hand we are creating all kinds of hindrances against fast disposal of justice. Do we really know what we are asking for?
By asking for debate we are only creating more confusion, more division. Already the nation is vertically divided on the issue. In the valley almost everyone is asking for clemency, and the rest of India is against that in almost in an equivocal term. In a poll conducted by CNN IBN 90% of the voters gave YES verdict in favor of hanging. And with each passing day the atmosphere is becoming more turbulent. For the right wing parties like BJP, this is an opportunity to whip up fanaticism. And nobody should get surprised if it becomes another Hindu Muslim fight.
Let’s respect our Judiciary. Let the guilty be punished. Let the law take its own course.