The Human Afzal and Sub-human You and Me..
Mohd. Afzal is a human, he did not get a fair trial and the moment his son heard of his dad's imminent execution, he got a rope to see how being hung felt like (as an aside, did his son also sit together with ISI cohorts to see how conspiring to bring the parliament down and kill people felt like ??).
The only way this situation could have been made into a more dramatic sob story would be to say there is an andhi maa (who needs an operation), boodhi behan (who needs a doctor groom), langda baap (who needs cataract treatment) and a berozgar bhai (who needs ghoos to find that govt job).
We understand. This is the land of Gandhi where none should be hanged. We forget that Gandhi refused to appeal for Bhagat Singh's pardon despite unanimity of goals simply because of latter's reliance on violence. Of course, Bhagat Singh was not executed on Oct 20th which is such an auspicious day.
Also, what are we going to achieve by hanging Afzal. Nothing, Zero, Zilch. In any case, what do we achieve by punishing thieves, robbers and rapists. Exactly that, nothing (that the punishments don't deter is borne out by rising crime statistics). So why not release all the convicts in all the prisons all over India. After all, even they may have andhi maas and boodhi behans. Moreover, isn't confining someone to the four walls of jail so very barbaric, medieval and an example of retributive justice.
And then, hanging this misguided youth will alienate Kashmiris. Of course, it will. Didn't hanging Indira Gandhi's murderers alienate all the Sikhs and Punjabis and didn't hanging Dhananjay alienate all the Bengalis ? Ahh..the sanctity of the highest level of judicial process, we'll think about it later.
Oh, and I missed the mother of all logic - that it will scuttle the CBMs and peace process with Pakistan. Of course, with our noble neighbor Pakistan continuously sending peace doves in our direction, it will amount to heavens falling down. As such our UPA govt is so considerate of delicate Pakistani sentiments that even after the worst of massacres, they only manage a feeble mumbo jumbo about walking the talk and stuff. What if the sentiments across the border are hurt, what if they pulled out of the peace process - hey it seems they will stop doing all that they are doing to dismantle terror factories. Awww....now that will be so dreadful - imagine, terrorists will be able to bomb temples, trains and market places - Delhi, Varanasi, Mumbai - whenever and wherever they like.
About the kin of the security men who died fighting for the parliament or about the scores that died in Mumbai trains - well they anyways are a statistic. And even if they had lived, what greatness would have they achieved anyway. It would have been a painful, wretched life and really, a sudden death due to a blast or a hail of bullets is actually deliverance. Hail the bombers and shooters.
If nothing, think about our poor little Booker winner, Arundhati Roy. Didn't she give all too very logical reasons in Afzal's defense - that the trial seems unfair, he didn't get a chance to tell his story (that the Trial Court, High Court and Supreme Court ratified this decision and that two out of three death row accused were spared the death penalty is a minor detail which can be easily forgotten between so many social causes she has to champion). Imagine doing a sit in at Jantar Mantar in these sunny Delhi days. Arre Bhaiyya, if for nothing else, then at least have some consideration for the amount of sunscreen she would have used to ward off sunburns that day. Now are you going to pardon Afzal Guru or you need more reasons - you barbaric, medieval, vendetta driven fanatics.
And our media. Afzal loved poetry, liked to cook and used to water his plants every day. Hey he also used to fly kites and play gulli danda in his mohalla as a child. Such a bright kid who grew into such a fine and intellectual youth - being put to death for just conspiring to blow up parliament. Now, ain't that a travesty of justice. Hey, by the way, did he also wear half pants as a kid ?
Now, I guess all the blood hounds baying for this innocent Kashmiris blood will be slienced. Time for a little postscript.
So, what to do after you pardon Afzal. No point in going through the drama of keeping him in jail - getting M/s Masood Azhar active - another plane hijack - another hostage crisis - and finally, Indian govt escorting them to hills of Tora Bora. Just let him go.
After all, he is a human and has an andhi maa, boodhi behan, langda baap and berozgar bhai.
The only way this situation could have been made into a more dramatic sob story would be to say there is an andhi maa (who needs an operation), boodhi behan (who needs a doctor groom), langda baap (who needs cataract treatment) and a berozgar bhai (who needs ghoos to find that govt job).
We understand. This is the land of Gandhi where none should be hanged. We forget that Gandhi refused to appeal for Bhagat Singh's pardon despite unanimity of goals simply because of latter's reliance on violence. Of course, Bhagat Singh was not executed on Oct 20th which is such an auspicious day.
Also, what are we going to achieve by hanging Afzal. Nothing, Zero, Zilch. In any case, what do we achieve by punishing thieves, robbers and rapists. Exactly that, nothing (that the punishments don't deter is borne out by rising crime statistics). So why not release all the convicts in all the prisons all over India. After all, even they may have andhi maas and boodhi behans. Moreover, isn't confining someone to the four walls of jail so very barbaric, medieval and an example of retributive justice.
And then, hanging this misguided youth will alienate Kashmiris. Of course, it will. Didn't hanging Indira Gandhi's murderers alienate all the Sikhs and Punjabis and didn't hanging Dhananjay alienate all the Bengalis ? Ahh..the sanctity of the highest level of judicial process, we'll think about it later.
Oh, and I missed the mother of all logic - that it will scuttle the CBMs and peace process with Pakistan. Of course, with our noble neighbor Pakistan continuously sending peace doves in our direction, it will amount to heavens falling down. As such our UPA govt is so considerate of delicate Pakistani sentiments that even after the worst of massacres, they only manage a feeble mumbo jumbo about walking the talk and stuff. What if the sentiments across the border are hurt, what if they pulled out of the peace process - hey it seems they will stop doing all that they are doing to dismantle terror factories. Awww....now that will be so dreadful - imagine, terrorists will be able to bomb temples, trains and market places - Delhi, Varanasi, Mumbai - whenever and wherever they like.
About the kin of the security men who died fighting for the parliament or about the scores that died in Mumbai trains - well they anyways are a statistic. And even if they had lived, what greatness would have they achieved anyway. It would have been a painful, wretched life and really, a sudden death due to a blast or a hail of bullets is actually deliverance. Hail the bombers and shooters.
If nothing, think about our poor little Booker winner, Arundhati Roy. Didn't she give all too very logical reasons in Afzal's defense - that the trial seems unfair, he didn't get a chance to tell his story (that the Trial Court, High Court and Supreme Court ratified this decision and that two out of three death row accused were spared the death penalty is a minor detail which can be easily forgotten between so many social causes she has to champion). Imagine doing a sit in at Jantar Mantar in these sunny Delhi days. Arre Bhaiyya, if for nothing else, then at least have some consideration for the amount of sunscreen she would have used to ward off sunburns that day. Now are you going to pardon Afzal Guru or you need more reasons - you barbaric, medieval, vendetta driven fanatics.
And our media. Afzal loved poetry, liked to cook and used to water his plants every day. Hey he also used to fly kites and play gulli danda in his mohalla as a child. Such a bright kid who grew into such a fine and intellectual youth - being put to death for just conspiring to blow up parliament. Now, ain't that a travesty of justice. Hey, by the way, did he also wear half pants as a kid ?
Now, I guess all the blood hounds baying for this innocent Kashmiris blood will be slienced. Time for a little postscript.
So, what to do after you pardon Afzal. No point in going through the drama of keeping him in jail - getting M/s Masood Azhar active - another plane hijack - another hostage crisis - and finally, Indian govt escorting them to hills of Tora Bora. Just let him go.
After all, he is a human and has an andhi maa, boodhi behan, langda baap and berozgar bhai.
posted by Prashant @ 12:39 PM
1 Comments:
At 10:29 AM,
PK said…
I sincerely wish that some politicians should have been seriously affected by the parliament shooting. I also wish that Ghulam Nabi Azad should go to the frontline to "understand" the terrorists or "freedom fighters".
I understand that hanging Afzal would make him hero in the eyes of the brain-washed youths but I equally do believe that if he is left scott-free, the billion strong indians would start believing that politics and religion only matters in justice.
India is already infected by thousands of Afzals. The sooner we get rid of all of them, the better.
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Y Kumar, I am becoming fan of ur blogg.
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