Afzal Guru and the circus called Indian Politics

Before I start with this post, let me give a little background history to the uninitiated. On 13th December 2001, 5 terrorists infiltrated the Parliament house in a car, rammed it into then Vice President Krishan Kant's car, got out and started firing their weapons.In the ensuing firefight between the terrorists and security personnel, all 5 terrorists, 5 policemen, a parliament security guard and a gardener were killed.

Now to get started on this post. Afzal Guru, one of the chief conspirators of the attack(along with SAR Geelani who was subsequently acquitted and Shaukat Hussain who served 10 year rigorous imprisonment) was recently hanged after having been convicted and sentenced in 2002(more than 10 years!!!!!!!). He was tried on various counts including waging war against the Govt of India and criminal conspiracy to commit murder. It seemed that the Afzal Guru chapter was finally about to close. However this was just the beginning.

After his execution there has been a hue and cry by politicians in Kashmir and various so-called human rights organizations about how the system has been unfair to Afzal Guru. Politicians in Kashmir(including CM Omar Abdullah) have repeatedly asked the body of Afzal Guru to be returned to his family. The Tihar jail authorities and the Govt of India on their part have cited the jail manual to refuse this request time and again saying it could result in chaos and law and order problem in the state. The Human Rights Organizations are the biggest criminals in this episode saying he did not get a fair trial. Where were these so called Human Rights Organizations when people like Jessica Lall got murdered? Where were they when bodies of Indian soldiers were mutilated beyond recognition in Kargil? Did they fight for the Human rights for the victims of the Parliament attack? NO!!! But they would fight for the Human rights for people who are not human at all. They were all too happy when SAR Geelani was acquitted. People like Arundhati Roy thrive on the publicity they would get by fighting for these anti national elements. It is okay if there is insufficient evidence resulting in the acquittal of one person but not so if there is ample evidence to support the conviction and punishment of another. 

And then there are our great politicians from Kashmir like Mufti Mohammed Syed and Omar Abdullah by whose attitude it would seem that they would rather have Kashmir in Pakistan than India. Afzal Guru had himself admitted to having been trained in POK and harbored the terrorists. To the general public of India this is tantamount to treason and deserves nothing less than the capital punishment. But for our politicians vote bank politics comes ahead of the Nation itself. 

Afzal Guru was a terrorist who waged war against the country of his birth and the punishment he received was well deserved. Not just me but 78% people of this country(as per an India Today Poll in October 2006) think so.