By Amjad M. Hussaini
The recent hanging of Afzal Guru has stirred up a debate involving the intelligentsia, intellectuals, judiciary, governments, police, media, and the common man. Most observe national interest in hanging of Afzal Guru, some mention self interest, several express justice delivered, while certain feel ashamed. Issues like freedom of expression, right to life, collective conscience, religious prejudice, vote bank politics, national security, nationalist feeling, human rights, etc. are being discussed in different quarters. Somewhere there is celebration, somewhere or other is anger and frustration, many oppose capital punishment, some want the State to be soft, few support being hard, various relate it to victory against terrorism, some interpret it as a murder of democracy, while others state it as a political compulsion. Some see Maqbool Bhat in Afzal Guru, while some compare him with the legendary Shaheed Bhagat Singh, many see him as a terrorist / terrorist sympathizer, and a few consider him innocent. Some schools of thought view a bizarre contrast in ways adopted for treating people on the two sides of Jawahar Tunnel, connecting Kashmir valley with the rest of India. Both these people incidentally form the citizenry of the same Nation!
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Common people in Kashmir question the Government authorities on adopting double standards; while they readily impose blanket curfew when the politicians are inside the safe quarters of power corridors, they never do so when it is time to poll votes??
Too many questions, too many thoughts, too many view points -- which an ordinary man like me cannot analyse, but one feeling that a small young boy of 12 years age should have been given an opportunity to have a last meeting with his dying father, and that was in my opinion the Human Right of a son who was never going to see his father alive again! Could a 12 year old boy be a threat to the World’s largest democracy, that he was denied this opportunity??
[The views expressed are those of common people.Amjad M. Husainican be reached at amjadhusaini@yahoo.com]
The recent hanging of Afzal Guru has stirred up a debate involving the intelligentsia, intellectuals, judiciary, governments, police, media, and the common man. Most observe national interest in hanging of Afzal Guru, some mention self interest, several express justice delivered, while certain feel ashamed. Issues like freedom of expression, right to life, collective conscience, religious prejudice, vote bank politics, national security, nationalist feeling, human rights, etc. are being discussed in different quarters. Somewhere there is celebration, somewhere or other is anger and frustration, many oppose capital punishment, some want the State to be soft, few support being hard, various relate it to victory against terrorism, some interpret it as a murder of democracy, while others state it as a political compulsion. Some see Maqbool Bhat in Afzal Guru, while some compare him with the legendary Shaheed Bhagat Singh, many see him as a terrorist / terrorist sympathizer, and a few consider him innocent. Some schools of thought view a bizarre contrast in ways adopted for treating people on the two sides of Jawahar Tunnel, connecting Kashmir valley with the rest of India. Both these people incidentally form the citizenry of the same Nation!
Too many questions, too many thoughts, too many view points -- which an ordinary man like me cannot analyse, but one feeling that a small young boy of 12 years age should have been given an opportunity to have a last meeting with his dying father, and that was in my opinion the Human Right of a son who was never going to see his father alive again! Could a 12 year old boy be a threat to the World’s largest democracy, that he was denied this opportunity??
[The views expressed are those of common people.Amjad M. Husainican be reached at amjadhusaini@yahoo.com]