NEW DELHI, Feb 9:
The law took its own course when Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru was sent to the gallows in a secret operation in Tihar Jail at 0800 hrs today, more than 11 years after five heavily-armed gunmen stormed the temple of democracy and opened indiscriminate fire, killing nine people.
The Congress asserted that Guru was sent to the gallows as per the law of the land but the BJP said it was a delayed action, though welcome.
All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary Digvijay Singh told reporters here that the decision to hang Guru was taken as per the law of the land.
“The law has taken its course,” he maintained as security was tightened across the Capital, with curfew being imposed around Tihar jail.
Reiterating that the Congress was never soft on the fight against terror, Mr Singh further asserted that the party had never compromised on security.
Moreover, Afzal Guru was convicted by the Supreme Court and deserves no mercy, he added.
The Bharatiya Janata Party welcomed Guru’s hanging but said the Government’s step was a “delayed action” and the execution should have happened much earlier as the Supreme Court had confirmed the capital punishment in 2005.
Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley said though it was a “belated action” Justice has been done.
“…In the case of Afzal Guru, all judicial authorities have affirmed his guilt and upheld the death sentence. His clemency petition has been rejected by the President. For reasons which the government has been unable to explain the execution was delayed. But finally the law has taken its own course,” Mr Jaitley said in a statement.
He said public opinion has compelled the Government to act and enforce the law.
Mr Jaitley said India must today, as it did on December 13, 2001, speak in one voice and give a clear message to the world that it was not a soft state and those who attack India, its sovereignty and its institutions, will be held accountable. “Though belated, Justice has been done,” Mr Jaitley said.
“We have witnessed a large number of terrorist attacks. Most of them were planned across the border but to be executed in India. Some of the targets were carefully chosen. The Indian Parliament, Jammu & Kashmir Assembly, the Akshardham temple, Mumbai city were among them. These targets were symbols of India’s Parliamentary democracy, sovereignty, cultural heritage and economy,” he said.
The Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha said an attack on Parliament was an attack on India. India, therefore, rightly spoke in one voice to condemn the attack.
Mr Jaitley further said India is a society governed by the rule of law. The investigation by the police agencies was strictly scrutinised by the courts.
BSP chief and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati hailed the execution of Guru, saying the perpetrators of the terrorist acts should meet the harshest punishment.
Reacting to the early morning operation, Ms Mayawati said that though the Centre had delayed in taking the final decision, but when it did, it did under public pressure. Still what had happened was good in the interest of the country and its people.
The BSP chief, whose party is extending outside support to the UPA Government, said the Centre should in future act firmly to bring to book perpetrators of the terrorist acts irrespective of their caste and religion, and without any political motive.
The religious head of Ajmer Dargah has welcomed the hanging of 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, terming it as a “very good decision”.
“This is a very good decision but should have been taken earlier. It was necessary to send a message across the world that India is tough against terrorism,” Zainul Abedin Ali Khan, Diwan of Khawaja Moinuddin Chisti’s shrine said.
The Government should take such bold and legal steps well in time to give a message that the country has zero tolerance for terrorism, he said.
Khan also demanded from the Pakistan Government to release Sarabjit Singh, an Indian national who is languishing in a jail in that country for several years.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi welcomed the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.
“Better late than never,” Modi posted on microblogging site Twitter after the Centre announced that Guru was hanged at Tihar Jail here this morning.
RSS welcomed the execution of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru though it came after some delay and insisted that all Indians should rise above their differences to oppose terrorism unitedly.
“We welcome the implementation, albeit after a delay, of the Supreme Court order to hang Afzal Guru, the principal conspirator of the Parliament House attack of 2001. The Central Government should have taken this decision earlier,” RSS All-India propaganda chief Manmohan Vaidya said in a statement.
The RSS founthead has often criticised the Congress-led UPA Government in the past for delaying the hanging of Guru despite the Supreme Court upholding the death sentence.
“In future also, all Indians should rise above partisan politics and unitedly fight against terrorism,” Vaidya said.
RSS leader Ram Madhav also welcomed Guru’s hanging.
“Guru had challenged the sovereign power of India by attacking our Parliament. He deserved to be shown that power,” Madhav said.
“The law has taken its course. The Parliament attack convict has been hanged,” Congress spokesman Rashid Alvi said reacting to the execution of Guru in Tihar Jail here.
“Justice has been done,” another Congress spokesman Sandeep Dikshit said.
Questioning the delay in Guru’s hanging, BJP said it should have happened much earlier after the confirmation of the capital punishment by the Supreme Court in 2005.
“The capital punishment awarded to Afzal Guru today is a part of legal and judicial process which ought to have taken place much earlier. The attack on the Indian Parliament happened in 2001, that is 12 years ago, which was an attack on India.
“Why this sort of delay inspite of overpowering desire of the people of the country that those who are accused of such a heinous offence ought to be given the capital punishment as affirmed by the highest court of the land. This question would remain important and an answer would have to be found out,” BJP chief spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters here.
In Chennai, Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari said the decision to hang Guru was not based on political considerations.
“The process of Article 72 unfolded and once the mercy petition was rejected by the president (Pranab Mukherjee) the law took its own course,” Tewari told a press conference.
He was referring to the article of the constitution under which a President can grant pardon or commute the sentence of any convict.
Alvi said the capital punishment to Afzal Guru would send a message to all terror outfits that India will not tolerate terror.
“We have sent a message to the world that we cannot tolerate terrorism at any cost. Anybody committing any acts of terror will be punished. People of our country and Government have zero tolerance for terrorism”, he said.
Taking a swipe at the BJP, Alvi said terrorists released by the NDA Government during the Kandahar plane hijack episode were those who planned attack on Parliament.
BJP spokesman Rajiv Pratap Rudy said: “Though delayed, we still feel that the hanging of Afzal Guru was a right action. This action is delayed. But undoubtedly it is a welcome action.”
CPI(M) said the law of the land has taken its course as far as attack on the Indian Parliament is concerned.
“I think, the law of the land with all its provisions has finally been completed as far as the Afzal Guru case and the attack on the Indian Parliament is concerned. The issue which had been lingering for the past 11 years has finally completed its its due course,” CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury said.
Shiv Sena, another party strident in its demand for Guru’s execution, welcomed his hanging, saying the Government showed “courage” in taking this decision.
“The Government showed courage in hanging Guru,” Shiv Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut said in Mumbai but rued the delay in the process.
Raut said when Pranab Mukherjee had met Shiv Sena chief late Bal Thackeray during his campaign for the Presidential elections, the Sena supremo had urged him not to grant clemency to Guru.
Meanwhile, VHP leader Ashok Singhal and yoga guru Ramdev welcomed the execution of Guru, though both expressed the opinion that the action came after an inordinate delay.
“The Government must not think that it has done the nation a favour by punishing a person guilty of an audacious act,” Ramdev told reporters at Allahabad.
Addressing another press conference, Singhal said, “it (the hanging of Guru) should have taken place long ago.”
Union Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal, who was in Kanpur, said, “The Centre has a zero tolerance against terrorism. Law has taken its course. A strong message has been served that we will not tolerate terrorism at any cost.”
National general secretary of Samajwadi Party R P Kushwaha said, “There is no religion of terrorists. He should have been hanged much earlier but better late than never.” (PTI)
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