Should Mohammad Afzal Be Hanged To Death?

Ever since a Delhi court issued the "BlackWarrant" — the warrant of execution —  on September 26 for MohammadAfzal, the main accused in the Parliament Attack case and ordered that theconvict be hanged at 0600 hours in the Tihar jail premises on October 20, thesituation in Jammu and Kashmir had been described as tense.

The execution date was set by the trial courtnearly four years after it had sentenced Afzal to death on December 18, 2002.The punishment was later confirmed by the Delhi High Court, and the Supreme Courttoo had confirmed the sentence on August 4, 2005.

While Mohammad Afzal, allegedly of the Jaishe-e-Mohammad(JeM) terrorist group, had not filed any appeal for clemency, legal experts hadsuggested that he could move a mercy petition before the President even a daybefore the date of execution.

There had been immediate expressions of concernfrom those in the know of Kashmir politics that since October 20 would coincidewith Jumat-ul-Vida (the last Friday of Ramzan) the date had been very unwiselychosen, as it could be used to instigate trouble in the valley. Experts hadwarned that the least that could have been done was to have thought through theimpact on public sentiment in J&K. While Delhi was still to come to gripswith the implications, agitation in the valley had already started. 

And seeing the agitation and public mood, theruling coalition politicians — including Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad andPDP chief Mehbooba Mufti — have lent their support to the demand that MohammadAfzal, sentenced to death for the 2001 terror attack on Parliament, be pardoned.

Highly placed official sources say that the J&K Chief Minister has citedpublic sentiments in the Kashmir Valley and requested the Prime Minister to usehis good offices to obtain Presidential clemency for Afzal. Mehbooba Mufti,whose PDP is part of the ruling coalition, has also called for a review of Afzal'sdeath sentence, saying it could affect the peace process in Kashmir. "I'llsuggest that all (political parties)— the Congress, National Conference andPDP and other mainstream parties— should together appeal to the President tochange this sentence from death to life imprisonment," she said. 

The CPI-M has agreed, demanding a review of thedeath sentence, on the grounds that the step would hamper the peace process inthe subcontinent. Former chief minister, Farooq Abdullah of National Conferencehas also joined in, arguing that Afzal's hanging could create further unrest:"On humanitarian grounds, don't hang him. You can keep him in jail,"he said.

Meanwhile, the Congress party in Delhi is caught onthe backfoot. For a party which is under constant attack for not being firm onterror, there seems to have been no home-work done on how to handle the trickyquestion. In the month of Ramzan, the party would rather keep a safe distancefrom such a controversial topic, so it is imperative for it to balance thesentiment in the valley against that in the rest of the country. Which is why therewas total funk on how to handle the news of Ghulam Nabi Azad's request.

A perfect cue for the BJP to enter the fray: "Looking at the demands made by Ghulam Nabi Azad and the Congress, it becomes clear that the Congress is not serious about fighting terrorism," BJP chief Rajnath Singhwas quick to charge. "This shows, both of them (the Congress and the Left) treat the issue verylightly." Party spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad had earlier been strident inhis demand: "The apex court has awarded this punishment (to Afzal) after athree-tier judicial scrutiny. The exercise of power of pardon lies with thegovernment. We would like to know what the government has to say about it"

All that the Congress Spokesperson, Abhishek ManuSinghvi could offer was: "Well, it’s the prerogative of the President andthere is a constitutional procedure".

Meanwhile, Afzal's wife Tabasum had earlier announced herdecision to approach the President on behalf of her children and Afzal's motherand make an appeal for mercy. Tabasum, a nurse by profession, who, along with herfather and son met Afzal last in Tihar jail on August 12 told reporters who visited herhouse at Doubgah village in Sopore, 55 km from Srinagar that Afzal "haslost faith in the judiciary and is unwilling to file an appeal before thePresident". "He would prefer to go to the gallows rather thanappeal against the sentence," she maintains, but is hopeful that she wouldbe able to persuade him to change his mind. "My husband is innocent and implicateddeliberately in the case. We want him back with us. We are hopeful that thePresident will hear our appeal," she maintains.  

Her father, Ghulam Mohammad, says that Afzal was unwilling to file a clemencypetition as "it would mean that he had accepted the charges against himalthough he had not committed the crime.." He quoted Afzal, "When Ihave no hand in the Parliament attack case, why should I file a mercypetition?"  And then he tried to rationalises:"If God has written his death, nobody can save him."

The question is, will President Kalam pardon Afzal? What he finally decides to do in thecase would obviously be under the scanner. He had rejected the mercy petition ofDhananjay Chatterjee —convicted of raping and murdering a teenage girl in WestBengal — in August 2004, despite the massive campaign against the deathpenalty. The last hanging that took place in Tihar jailwas on January 6, 1989, when Satwant Singh and Beant Singh — accused in thekilling of former prime minister Indira Gandhi — were executed.

With inputs from agencies