INDImag – Contemporary fiction | Motivational short stories | Social stories | Short story criticism

Mohammad Afzal Guru, the terrorist convicted in the 2001 attack on the Indian parliament, Thursday filed a mercy petition before Indian President seeking pardon of his death sentence. Major Indian political parties, unwisely, have taken their stand on the clemency plea fuelling a raging debate on the issue.

The brazen attack on the seat of Indian democracy in 2001, attributed to a prominent Kashmiri extremist group, stirred emotions never seen before. The shock and pandemonium that ensued culminated in the sensational capture of Afzal amid media frenzy. The media played a big role in fomenting the hysteria. Even before the police recorded Afzal’s statement, they presented him to the media before whom he made what appeared to be a complete public confession. He has since recanted the confession and alleged police brutality and coercion. The Indian majority is baying for his blood, while Kashmiris are questioning the haste in sending him to the gallows.

At the heart of all of this emotion is not Afzal — it is the troubled state of Kashmir. Cradled in the lap of majestic snow-capped Himalayas, Kashmir is a very beautiful place. Or rather, used to be. Once hailed as the Switzerland of India, the picturesque landscape is dotted with lakes that are afloat with numerous houseboats. On visiting the Valley of Kashmir, the Mughal emperor Jehangir (father of Shahjahaan of Taj Mahal fame), is said to have exclaimed: “If there is paradise anywhere on earth, it is here, it is here, it is here.” Apart from being an excellent tourist destination, Kashmir is the gateway to Asia, Indo-China, and Indo-Russia.

Kashmir has been a bone of contention between India and Pakistan right from the inception of the two countries in 1947. Pakistani claims of the Muslim majority preferring it to India, and India’s counter claim that if Muslim majority is the basis there are more Muslims in India than in Pakistan, just stratches the surface of this dispute. There is a border issue with China as well; roughly 60% of the state is in Indian control, about 30% is Pakistan occupied and 10% occupied by the Chinese. India and Pakistan have waged four wars in the last five decades. Pakistan has lost all. The third war in 1971 ended with Pakistan losing control of East Pakistan and the formation of Bangladesh.

Having lost one too many times, Pakistan has resorted to subversion tactics. Pakistan’s secret services arm, the ISI, is fuelling the religious discord between Hindus & Muslims and sponsoring terrorism by means of funding, arms, training, and support. The same variables of extremists justifying this as Jihad, liberation, and hence violence being acceptable and noble brings Iraq to mind. But the violence in the valley predates Iraq.

In the wake of growing Islamic terrorist threats and heinous acts, a mood of helplessness and despair is rife among India’s majority. Any semblance of bringing these Islamic extremists to justice is awaited with much anticipation. Afzal is a former confirmed terrorist. He had crossed borders into Pakistan illegally to get trained. Thousands of Kashmiri youth are ensnared by Pakistan’s ISI-backed terrorist organizations in their so called war. He did however make an attempt to quit his bad ways. He once surrenderd to authorities.

However, upon getting a new lease of life, he has not made very good choices. He resorted to getting back to his terrorist ways and being a conspirator to the attack on the temple of India’s Democracy. Afzal’s background adds veracity to his guilty verdict and brushes aside the recant of his confession and claims of being framed. But to Afzal’s point, he is a classic case of trial by media. He was convicted in the court of public opinion long before his hearing started with a majority of Indians baying for his blood.

With much at stake, everyone has added to the smoldering cauldron. The advocates of his death sentence point out that Afzal has neither shown any remorse nor begged for forgiveness since his arrest. Afzal maintains that he is innocent, and he does not need to. The Indian police, average at best at deft handling of sensitive cases, are riddled with human rights violations. The police seem to have ill treated Afzal aiding to his claims of being framed. Politicians are not far behind. The right wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has flayed clemency support statements by its opposition, the Congress party, and many local Kashmiri parties as well.

None of the parties are doing anything objective. Cutting across party lines, politicians are using this as a tool to garner support with the next elections in mind. Congress is doing what it always does best; bending over backwards to appease the Muslim minority. The right wing BJP, claiming to be the representative of the Hindu majority, is using it to lash out at Pakistan, and whoever supports it from Indian soil. Kashmiri political parties fear a divide in the state on Hindu-Muslim lines and the execution of the death sentence fuelling that. If that happens, sectarian violence a la Iraq’s Shia-Sunni tussle is a possibility.

The bigger opposing parties, India and Pakistan at the opposite ends of the table are content at trading rhetoric. Neither is innocent nor wrong. The efforts at resolution reek of their vision for Kashmir jaundiced by their historic emotions and the ill the other has inflicted. India’s attempt to fence the border is staunchly opposed by Pakistan for obvious reasons. India too is not all that sincere, as its sole aim is to save the region from cessation. India’s track record with regard to terrorism is better than Pakistan’s.

In all this, the Kashmiris have had little to no say in the matter. When they have spoken, it’s the extremists who have, using violence and Pakistan. There are other factors that influence the conflict: India’s growing economy and presence in the world as a third world power, and it’s ability to compete in key areas with the rest of the world, a la IT, biotechnology and engineering. Successive Pakistani governments, having ignored reforms, find the country lagging behind their prospering neighbor. So to fan their egos and electoral bases, they need this alive and unresolved.

Returning to Afzal, in his fate lies the future and hopes of many of the numerous stakeholders. Kashmiris who want him pardoned, Indian majority (sans the Kashmiris) for whom anything less than gallows is a judicial mockery, media who are out to fuel their sales, politicians who just have the next elections in mind, Afzal and his family, and several social organizations. Add to this the verdict by the Supreme Court, the highest court of the land. Granting clemency is tantamount to slapping the judiciary in the face, albeit valid. In-fact the Supreme Court in it’s verdict has called Afzal a “menace to society” whose “life should become extinct” to satisfy the “collective conscience of the society”. The vast Indian majority sees this as a stern message that needs sent to the terrorist groups. It has suffered 30,000 deaths at the hands of these extremists over the years. But under repeated doubts about the fairness of the trial Afzal received, marred by public vents both for and against, one is forced to take a step back and reconsider. At the end of the road, it is death we are prescribing.

We as a society have had reservations about capital punishment for confirmed, proven beyond doubt sociopaths. So unless we have powerful and unequivicable evidence, we should probably hold off. We can always send this former terrorist to the gallows when proven beyond doubt that he was involved. But flooring the pedal on this and accelerating to a finish that does not have any chance at reversal would have serious consequences. Kashmiris are sure to lose faith in the Indian judiciary. Any current terrorists having a change of heart and wanting to confess their sins(la Afzal) will reconsider. Given that, some social activists have argued for Killing the sin and not the sinner. It begs a thought.

War they say, is never about who is right, it is almost always about who is left.

I neither have respect nor sympathy for religious extremists, be it in Iraq, Kashmir, or elsewhere. Pakistan, the key ally in president Bush’s war on terror, is a source of terror itself. It is obvious and there for all to see. Numerous articles in The Washington Post and The New York Times have highlighted this marriage of convenience with a country ruled by a dictator. But for now it’s not about India and Pakistan. It is about this man Afzal, a former terrorist and his rights at getting a fair trial. I have my reservations on the issue and, unless proven beyond doubt, I find it unwise to take a stand on the matter.

A Software Manager borne,born and raised in India and calls USA home. Current events,Humor are the interests. Hypocrisy and pettiness tick me off.

@ Copyrights Athreya

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