Attack on the fountainhead of the democratic and republic institution should be punished with the severest of severe sentences; simultaneously such a judgement should be insulated from moods and demands of the populace and not be delivered to satisfy the conscience of the society.
Death sentence awarded to Mohammed Afzal Guru if executed might quench our thirst for vengeance but would be a wrong strategic move for our fight against terrorism. His hanging would lead to glorifying the militancy in the valley, provoking the people and providing fodder to their cannon’s. It would definitely lead to strengthening of hardliners and a major blow to pro-India moderators.
Saving “him” has become a political movement in the valley and it is still disparate from the militant movement. Execution will converge these and let this be made clear a militant movement cannot be brought to end by using just military means;means needs to be strengthened by social and political means as well.
As apples and oranges cannot be compared similarly Kashmir and Gujarat are different issues. The grounds on which clemency should be given to Afzal are should not be used for perpetrator’s of the riots.
Finally, the notion of India being a soft state has been garnered over years of weak polices and weaker implementations. Execution of a single man would NOT overnight make us a harder state and neither would his reduced sentence make us weaker, Infact it would actually reiterate the fact that India is mature and a responsible power and send the right signals to people who believe they have no future in this country .
Hmmmm 
Well, i do agree with the thoughts on why Afzal should not be hanged. I am not very sure as to why people in kashmir are on roads to save Afzal. May be its their emotional feelings as he is a highly respected Muslim in the ghati or may be a step for political mileage by the politicians.
whatever is the case, I understand that execution of this single man would not make us a harder state. But leaving him unpunished would prove INDIA a softer state. India has been a soft country Since its existence known to us, and its been looted till the roots.
Afzal has to be punished so that india clearly sends a signal to Maulana Masood Azhar (mastermind of the attack) & other militants that we dont excuse those who do this kind of unpunishable acts. And that INDIA is ready to start a war against these kind of extremists.
In that move, if Afzal needs to be hanged then i wouldnt say no. But yes there is still scope for change in the judgement, may be punsh in other way not be hanged.
[…] If the Kashmir valley ‘goes into flames’ causing the ‘peace process’ with Pakistan to unravel then it is an early indicator of what lies ahead if the current course is followed. Far from causing the Hurriyat to be more ‘moderate’, it has driven the likes of Farooq Abdullah into reckless populism and Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad into a conniving silence. And why, a Pakistan that resents references to its ‘domestic affairs’ in conversations between the Defence Minister and the service chiefs, has the audacity to comment on Afzal’s clemency. […]
Hi Sabab,
One thing I like about your post is at least you do not use the non existent fig leaf of Afzal’s innocence to ask for his clemency. He has been tried and found guilty by 3 courts ( including the highest court in the land ). So there should be no doubt about his guilt. The only ground for clemency then is blackmail. Sometime back the Govt of India had come out with a document saying categorically – no negotiations with terrorists. Hope they have the guts to act at this time of reckoning. Otherwise , may a thousand Maulana Azhars and Mohd Afzals flourish.
This sounds like an out-and-out communal argument, effectively translating into: “Don’t kill Muslim terrorists, but kill the Hindu (not the Muslim, again!) rioters of Gujarat”.
This also sounds eerliely like certain jurisprudences, where a non-believer’s witness against a believer is worth nothing, and that of a believing woman’s is worth only half that of the male’s. The criminal’s gender and religious allegiance determine the quantum of punishment awarded to him.
But, mercifully, Indian criminal code doesn’t spring from religious canon. There are no apples and oranges here. There is the SAME question of punishment for crime, and the SAME principle of upholding of rule of law, irrespective the caste, creed and ethnicity of the criminal. The blogger should have had the courage to put his bakwaas argument in the words I did, instead of cloaking it in a veneer of (il)”logic”.
[…] Sabab talks about why a judgement should be insulated from moods and demands of the populace and not be delivered to satisfy the conscience of the society. Finally, the notion of India being a soft state has been garnered over years of weak polices and weaker implementations. Execution of a single man would NOT overnight make us a harder state and neither would his reduced sentence make us weaker, Infact it would actually reiterate the fact that India is mature and a responsible power and send the right signals to people who believe they have no future in this country . Posted by krishnan […]