As of now, the Union home ministry's explanation for the delay in sending the advice to the president is that it is yet to receive the views of the law ministry and also those of the Delhi government. Before sending the file back to Rashtrapati Bhavan, the home ministry has to seek opinions from the law ministry and the state government concerned. It is only after this that the Union home ministry formulates its recommendations for the president to act upon.
According to the picture sketched by highly placed sources, the home ministry is not likely to revert to the president in the immediate future and is likely to keep the file on hold as long as possible. "It is definitely not going to happen while the winter session of Parliament is on. It may not even happen till President Kalam is in office (his term ends in July 2007) since his views against the death penalty are no secret," a senior official told Outlook.
The actual delay, according to sources, is because of the varied views in the government. "Though a consensus on the issue has not been reached, the general mood in the government seems to be veering towards rejecting Afzal's appeal for clemency," disclosed the official. However, there are dissenting voices, including that of Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, who publicly stated that hanging Afzal will give a fillip to militancy in the state. Some others think that Afzal will become a martyr with the hanging, possibly fanning riots in the country. "Granting pardon is not an act of grace. It is a question of public welfare. If public welfare would be served better by commuting death penalty to life imprisonment, then it should be done. However, it cannot be granted on the ground that a certain region will go up in flames. That is blackmail," says an official from the judicial department of the home ministry.
Meanwhile, a simultaneous movement by civil liberties and human rights activists to save Afzal is gathering momentum. Activists claim that they are not seeking clemency for him on political, regional or religious basis but purely on the question of justice. In their view, Afzal did not get a fair trial as he did not have proper legal aid. The others accused who were arrested have been either acquitted or sentenced to imprisonment. They also say the main perpetrators are in Pakistan, out of reach of the Indian law.
