Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 8: While PDP, CPI (M) and a few organizations expressed disappointment over the hanging of prime accused in the Parliament attack Afzal Guru, the State BJP, former Minister and MLA Jammu West Prof Chaman Lal Gupta and many other organizations welcomed this decision.
While welcoming the decision to hang Afzal Guru, BJP State president Jugal Kishore Sharma described it as a delayed decision though in right direction. He said the hanging of Guru was due for several years but the UPA Government had unnecessarily delayed it. Mr Jugal further cautioned the mainstream regional parties NC and PDP and its leaders to refrain from making statements in support of Afzal Guru who was a criminal and a terrorist and their utterances will cause provocations and lead to communal tension, unrest and law and order problem.
State BJP chief spokesperson Dr Jitendra Singh said that a terrorist is a terrorist and should be treated as terrorist irrespective of the religion he belonged or the region he hails. He said in case of Afzal Guru, a dangerous signal had gone around that the punishment to him was being delayed because of his Kashmir connection, which had led to disillusionment among nationalist section as well as among country’s forces.
Terming the execution of Afzal Guru as right but delayed action, former Union Minister and MLA Prof Chaman Lal Gupta said that the attack on Parliament was very serious matter. It is strange that it took 12 years to meet the ends of justice. It indicated that there is greater need to review the whole approach. It is unfortunate that instead of opting for steadfast approach, the men in authority in Delhi had been pursuing soft peddling under communal and other considerations, he added.
ABVP unit Udhampur welcomed the decision of capital punishment to Afzal Guru and also held protest at Sailan Talab against the people supporting Afzal Guru and opposing his hanging. ABVP leader Sushant Gupta was leading the protest. The ABVP leaders condemned the Hurriyat and other Kashmiri leaders opposing the hanging of terrorist.
Meanwhile, describing the execution of Afzal Guru at Tihar Jail today as disappointing, the PDP president Mehbooba Mufti demanded that his body be handed over to the family for last rites. In a statement issued today the PDP leader said that hanging should not have been carried as his party was against capital punishment. She claimed that PDP had been making appeal to the President of India to grant clemency to Afzal Guru and commute his death sentence into life imprisonment. But party has been disappointed with this decision.
CPI (M) leader and MLA Mohd Yousuf Tarigami while reacting over the hanging of Guru, said that he had been always opposing the capital punishment. “It has been our consistent demand to commute death sentence awarded by Supreme Court to the Parliament attack convict Mohd Afzal Guru into life imprisonment. We think the execution of Afzal Guru, carried out today morning, is fraught with narrow view point and sensitivities of Jammu and Kashmir have not been taken into consideration,” Tarigami added.
BJP state secretary Pawan Khajuria said at last law has taken its own course. He said though belated it is a welcome step as those who wage a war against nation deserve the same treatment. He said BJP from the first day was demanding that Guru be hanged. He strongly condemned the separatist organizations of Kashmir who described Guru a martyr saying that he was a terrorist and a traitor. He asked Hurriyat leaders not to mislead the people nay more by glorifying the terrorists and their activities.
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