(This article was first published at desicritics.org)

Mohammad Afzal Guru helped facilitate the attack on the Indian Parliament on Dec. 13, 2001. He was caught, put to trial under due processes of law, he confessed and was sentenced to death by the highest court of the land. However, there are many who vehemently oppose Afzal’s death by hanging. Let us see what their arguments are:

He wasn’t given a fair trial. He wasnt given a good lawyer. His confession was forced.

That he wasn’t given a fair trial is based on the argument that he wasn’t given a good lawyer and his confession was forced i.e., he was tortured brutally into confession.

1. That he was tortured brutally is purely the personal opinion of his wife in an article in Kashmiri Times. This opinion is purportedly subscribed to by a majority of Kashmiris. Everybody is entitled to an opinion but that opinion need not be the truth.

2. In the article, Afzal’s wife writes

“The police have made him falsely confess before the media even before the trial started.”

In the same article, she writes

“All over India people have condemned the attack on Parliament. And I agree that it was a terrorist attack and must be condemned.”

According to her, her husband has “falsely confessed” meaning that Afzal is innocent but she contradicts herself in the line “I agree it was a terrorist attack.”

3. If indeed the STF tortured Afzal into confession and if Afzal is indeed innocent, then how come Afzal himself has never said he is innocent?

4. If indeed the STF tortured Afzal but Afzal isn’t innocent, how can that be a reason for clemency? If indeed the STF tortured Afzal, then the STF may be guilty of human rights violations. And if that is so, Afzal’s wife should use the judicial powers that she has, that she’s so obviously using to plead for clemency for her husbad, to establish the guilt of the STF personnel who tortured Afzal and get them punishment. But that is no reason for granting clemency to Afzal. All those who deserved to be punished must be punished – be it Afzal or the STF personnel who allegedly tortured her husband.

“I am not saying Afzal is innocent. It is just that he has not been given justice” – SAR Geelani.

1. He merely says Afzal wasnt given justice but doesnt go into the specifics of how justice was denied, if at all.

2. Geelani himself was part of the judicial process in which Afzal, Geelani and Shaukat Guru were sentenced to death. The same judicial process also freed Geelani of guilt. Then, the argument that there was no justice and that the process was unfair doesnt hold water. What is Geelani trying to say? If the judicial process to which he was party was unfair, is he trying to say that his acquittal was also unfair? If clemency is given to Afzal and his sentence is reduced to life imprisonment on the grounds that the judicial process was unfair, then Geelani must be apprehended and put through the judicial process again because it would’ve been established by then that the judicial process was unfair.

A news report on CNN-IBN:

‘The Government must see that hanging does not become a stigma on the Indian democracy as everyone, cutting across political lines in Kashmir, was opposing the move. It will be a strategic move forward,” Geelani said.

Stressing that Afzal was not given a proper ‘defence’, Geelani said the real planners of the crime were scot free in Pakistan and the government was doing nothing about it. Afzal was a third level accused.

“The situation in Kashmir needs to be taken into account before deciding on what he had done,” he added.

1. Not everyone is opposing the move. Only a few are.

2. When Geelani himself concedes “I’m not saying Afzal is innocent,” the argument that “Afzal was not given a proper ‘defence’” is futile and irrelevant.

3. The real planners of the crime may be in Pakistan. The Indian state will make all efforts to get them to justice as well. But that Afzal is a “third level accused” is no reason for clemency for Afzal. There’s no third level or first level here. An attack against the Indian state remains an attack on the Indian state.

Nobody, neither the state nor society has the right to take away the life of an individual.

This is the age old human rights argument. If neither the state nor the society has the right to take away the life of an individual, then does the state have the right to use the hardearned tax money of its citizens to finance the entire life imprisonment term of a person who has openly shown that he hates this society and wishes to disintegrate it?

Afzal’s hanging will make him a martyr – which can be used by terrorists to create more terrorists.

I feel Afzals’ clemency will create more Bajrang Dal activists in India than terrorists. I feel it comes to choosing between the two – a few terrorists or thousands of Bajrang Dal activists.

Afzal’s clemency will also be used by terrorist hijackers to do another IC-814 and get him and a few more terrorists released.

Afzal’s hanging will lead to widespread violence and chaos in Kashmir.

That Afzal’s hanging will lead to violence and chaos is based on the assumption that there will be violence and chaos. There’s no way of knowing that things will indeed turn out that way.

I have assumptions to make as well. I assume (I emphasize… assume, not exhort) that clemency to Afzal will rattle the BJP, RSS, VHP and the Bajrang Dal. This may have two undesirable effects:

1. It may be used for recruiting thousands of activists by the hardline Hindu right wing parties.

2. Clemency to Afzal may lead to violence and chaos throughout India as well. The 150 million Muslims living in India might come under grave threat from Bajrang Dal activists who think the Indian state is doing gross injustice by giving clemency to Afzal just like the Kashmiri seperatists who think the Indian state is doing gross injustice by hanging Afzal to death. A pogrom may be organised to vent out the frustration of these groups and this might result in thousands of Muslims being slaughtered ala Godhra 2002 throughout India.

We have a choice to make – a few stones pelted and a few grenade attacks on security personnel in Srinagar or thousands of our Muslim brothers being killed in pogroms. (This is based on assumptions mind you. The same kind of assumption that is used to justify the chaos and violence that may erupt in Srinagar if Afzal is hanged or any terrorist attacks that might ensue.)

Since I have a heart and care for all my Muslim brothers with whom I share this country, I choose the former. I dont want clemency to be granted to Afzal as it may lead to the organised murder of Muslims in thousands.

Allah is merciful but he’s very strict against those who violate the human rights of others and Allah is harsh against those who kill innocent people whatever their objective may be – something that Mohammad Afzal did to the 9 security personnel he killed or helped to kill.

Afzal is fighting for an Azad Kashmir which will be governed by Islamic Law. According to Islamic Law, waging war against another human being amounts to waging war upon Allah and His Messenger since all creation is the property of Allah.

5:33 “The only reward for those who make war upon Allah and His messenger and strive after corruption in the land will be that they will be killed or crucified, or have their hands and feet on alternate sides cut off, or will be expelled out of the land. Such will be their degradation in the world, and in the Hereafter theirs will be an awful doom…”

Insh’allah, Afzal should get the right punishment as Allah sees it fit. Since we live in a modern democratic country in the 21st century, however, we should not crucify him or cut off his limbs. Death by hanging is a more humane punishment.

PS: Ridiculing the decision of the highest court of the land, the Supreme Court of India, amounts to contempt of court.

(If you think clemency to Afzal is a grossly incorrect act and there should be no revision of death penalty, you can register your protest by sending an automated e-letter to the President by participating in this online signature drive.)