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Death sentence for Parliament attack mastermind

	October 02, 2006

The mastermind behind the December 13, 2001, attack on Parliament, Mohammed Afzal is to be executed on October 20. The death warrant for the execution was signed by Additional Sessions Judge Delhi Ravinder Kaur on Tuesday, September 26. Afzal was awarded the death sentence by the trial court in 2002. The Delhi High court and the Supreme Court later upheld it. The apex court also rejected his review petition.



There were four accused in the case – Mohammed Afzal, Shaukat Hussain, Navjot Sandhu alias Afsan Guru, wife of Shaukat Jussain, and S.A.R. Geelani, a Delhi University lecturer.



The Supreme Court had acquitted Geelani and Afsan Guru and reduced the death sentence awarded to Shaukat Hussain to 10-year imprisonment. Five Pakistani militants, Mohammed, Haider, Hamza, Rana and Raja, attacked Parliament, but security personnel killed them. The attack also claimed the lives of nine security personnel and caused injuries to 16.



The Supreme Court had said there was clinching evidence against Afzal of his nexus with the terrorists killed in the attack.



Reports say that Mohammed Afzal is to file a mercy petition seeking President APJ Abdul Kalam’s pardon.





Kashmir erupts over Mohammed Afzal’s sentence : There were protests last week in Srinagar and other places in the Kashmir Valley over the death sentence awarded to Mohammed Afzal in the Parliament attack case. Leaders of various political parties in Kashmir have joined the clamour for commutation of the death sentence.



Among those who joined the voices asking for a reprieve for Mohammed Afzal was Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad. He rang up Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday, September 29, and pleaded for a Presidential pardon for the man who organized one of the worst terror acts in India.



Fearing that Afzal’s hanging on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramzan could inflame anti-India passions in the Valley, Azad told Singh that at the very least, the execution should be postponed.



In New Delhi, Afzal’s brother Aejaz met him at Tihar jail and said he would file a mercy petition next week.



Azad’s call came as police used tear gas to disperse stone-pelting angry protesters, who after Friday prayers gathered at various places and fought pitched battles with cops. Several protesters and some newspersons were injured.

Azad reportedly pointed out the anger in the Valley when he called Singh to plead for presidential clemency and said a fresh bout of public anger could jeopardise the India-Pakistan peace process.



The Congress, embarrassed that Azad’s move could be seen at odds with its own on terrorism, swiftly distanced itself from the soft approach. "I am neither endorsing nor rejecting what the Chief Minister has said," was what party spokesman Abhishek Singhvi told reporters. "Congress has noted the proposal," he said.



The BJP condemned the CM’s move and warned against the matter being decided on political considerations.



Other voices cut across party lines to echo Azad. Mehbooba Mufti — MP and president of PDP, an ally of the Congress-led government in J&K — demanded that Afzal’s death sentence be changed to life imprisonment. She said the death sentence would alienate Kashmiris and was inappropriate at a juncture when Indo-Pak ties were improving.

Mehbooba said, she had already taken up the matter with the PM and discussed the repercussions of Afzal’s death sentence.



Omar Abdullah, MP and president of National Conference, advised the Centre to avoid steps that could threaten the process of normalcy.



Separatist leaders said the development will be an obstacle in the way of peace in the region. Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom party president Shabir Ahmed Shah said, the death sentence could foil the peace process. He said, it would hurt the sentiments of Kashmiris in the Valley as well as those working in different States.