Saturday, December 2, 2006

Death Penalty ???

The sentencing to death of Afzal for plotting and helping in the attack on Parliament has brought to surface the disconnect between the people of Jammu and Kashmir and rest of India.A divide also exists between those who support death penalty and those who are opposed to it.Politicians cutting across party lines have tried to make political capital out of the issue.While BJP and its allies have made it an issue of national pride ,other parties have thought it fit to play the muslim card.It is quite evident that both sides are on shallow grounds.
Death penalty is given in rarest of rare cases and the attack on Parliament definitely qualifies on this criteria.If Afzal is allowed to go scotfree ,it will set a very dangerous precedent.While there is a question mark on the investigations ,there is enough evidence to conclusively prove that Afzal was in regular touch with the attackers before the said incident took place.
Moreover the grounds on which amnesty is being sought are divisive to say the least.Religious or regional grounds cannot and should not be considered for granting amnesty to anybody .The kind of demonstrations and protests held across Kashmir in support of Afzal is a very disturbing development.Though the demonstrations are mostly the handiwork of militant outfits and a way to show resentment towards Central and stae government.The government has simply failed to bring the Kashmiris into the national mainstream.The plight of Kashmiri Pandits has received no attention at all over the years.The kind of ethnic cleansing that has taken place in Kashmir has no parallels.One cannot help but wonder are they the children of a lesser god ?
I think it would be better to sentence Afzal to life imprisonment (not 14 years,but for life)because hanging of Afzal has the potential of making a martyr out of a terrorist and fuelling the fire of secessionism in J&K all over again.

4 comments:

Reeta Skeeter said...

life imprisonment for life and NOT for 14yrs is definitely a good suggestion... urs is one blog where i do nothing but agree EVERYTIME!!! Mr.Mazak... u can b quite serious at times :D Happy Blogging!! God Bless!

expressions said...

i don agree vth u..Mr mazak..
I do feel that Afzal should be hanged till death..
we,can afford to hav another situation like kandhar whr our foreign minster respectfully takes mulla azhar and hads over him to taliban,quite a nice act isn't it..? shd get nobel peace prize...!!!!
they shd be killed wthout any prosecution...i may be harsh..but wots the point in keeping them alive....they r useless ppl...and no rights to live any longer..tht's all my Lordddd..
-- take care dude..
romel..
hopefully today vl be my last day at office..

Unknown said...

Your are right that Afzal should not be made a martyr out of a terrorist. But I am little apprehensive about the idea of changing his death penalty to life time(till death) imprisonment..This will again start a new trend. Who knows when he will be fled in the future!!..Look at this way,if anybody who wants to secure a bright future for his family, he will easily be convinced to do this kind of work and will be told that as you are not going to be hung (only life imprisonment), you will stay at jail and we(terrorist) will take care of your family...If this kind of trend starts, then I believe situation will be far more difficult to handle.

mazak said...

@reeta skeeter ...even i agree with u ...

@expressions aka rdx ....i appreciate ur viewpoint but sometimes we need to take into account the bigger picture....I have no sympathy for Afzal but why make a martyr out of him ..let him rot in jail ...

@bhargab ...there is always that risk which u r talking about but one who is committed to terrorism may not think very much about the consequences anyway...laws basically are meant only for those who abide by them ..law breakers are going to break it n take advantage of any loophole that they can find....it is for the law enforcement agencies to bring them to justice n that too speedily !