May 21 2008
Can Afzal be hanged when Sarabjit issue is there?
Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil questioned the hanging of Afzal Guru, a condemned prisoner in Parliament attack while the Indian government is seeking the clemency for Sarabjit Singh facing death sentence in Pakistan.
Patil asked that how can the demand be made for the hanging of Afzal Guru, who had been ordered to be hanged till death by the Supreme Court, when we are saying to release Sarabjit?
“You want Afzal Guru to be hanged. (At the same time) you are saying that don’t hang a person who has gone to Pakistan (Singh),” Patil told reporters in Latur on Tuesday.
“These people want others to be hanged. What are you doing? You are saying don’t hang that person (Singh) and you say hang this person (Guru) here,” Patil said and added that law would take its own course.
Guru was accused of being involved in the criminal conspiracy to attack Parliament on December 13, 2001. His clemency plea is pending with the government while Sarabjit is in Lahore jail for last 14 years, accused of being involved in Lahore blast which killed 14 people.
The statement of Patil is likely to stir a row with main the opposition BJP already slamming Patil for his “irresponsible” comments.
BJP says Patil’s comment as nonsense.
“The government which has been dithering on the execution of Afzal Guru is actually supporting and playing vote bank politics by giving such absurd reasons,” party spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said.
The “ill-informed Union home minister of the country does not even know that while Sarabjit Singh was a case of mistaken identity, Guru’s role and involvement in Parliament attack is proven,” he said.
He says that the cases of Afzal and Sarabjit are totally different.
“While Sarabjit’s was a case of mistaken identity, Afzal’s role and involvement in the Parliament attack is proven and he has been convicted by the court,” Javadekar added.
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