Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, Feb 10: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today asked police and para-military forces to exercise maximum restraint while dealing with the situation in the aftermath of execution of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. He also appealed for calm and asked people not to allow those with vested interests to exploit the situation.
Guru was hanged early this morning after President Pranab Mukherjee rejected his mercy and cleared the way for his hanging. He was convicted for his role in the attack on Parliament in 2001.
While addressing a hurriedly arranged press at his residence this morning the Chief Minister said: “I understand there is a certain degree of angst as a result of execution. I also understand there are among us those who would like to exploit the situation for their own personal and political advantage thereby putting the people of the State to more inconvenience.”
The Chief Minister asked people not to make matters worse: “Please do not indulge in any violent protests that will make matters worse,” he said.
Omar appealed media, especially electronic media, to cross check the facts before putting out any stories on air as it aggravates the situation. “Please check, cross check and re-verify before putting out any story. My experience during 2010 was that many a times, in order to break the news, rumours and not facts were used.” He said such kind of reporting makes matters worse.
He said Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde had informed him last night that Afzal Guru’s hanging will take place at 8 a.m. today as all the judicial process had been completed.
Omar said: “We made a quick assessment of the situation and decided to impose some restrictions in Kashmir valley.” He said that Army had not been called out to assist the State Government in dealing with the law and order situation. He said that the Jammu and Kashmir police and para-military forces are carrying out the law and order duty.
Chief Minister said he did not sign any documents for approving hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. “In contrary to Maqbool Bhat’s case, where there were cases against him in the State, there was no case in the State against Afzal Guru, so I did not have to sign any warrant of death.” Bhat was hanged in 1984 in Tihar Jail in New Delhi.
Omar said the State Government had expressed its reservations to the Central Government over the hanging of Guru. “We have informed Centre of our apprehension and kept doing so till the end.”
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