The long dark tea time of the soul

When our ‘honourable’ supreme court fixed the date of hanging for Afzal Guru last week, they knew precisely what is going to happen in the coming days. The widespread protests against the judgement in the Kashmir valley, raising Afzal Guru to an iconic stature by the separatists, the fundamentalists grabbing the issue with talks of terrorism related violence, and the noise by the human rights groups which are not taken seriously by the executive, the citizens or the media, all of it played in the judge’s mind on that day. As a matter of principle I am oppossed to capital punishment, the reasons for which can be found in numerous human rights dossiers, and because being a libertarian, I believe that the state (or the society) has no right to take away somebody’s life. It is a form of collective murder, no different from notorious public executions in midieval islamic countries, at least in substance. Letting go off my personal bias against death sentence, let us analyse this particular case and make out a case for his mercy plea to be accepted.
There are two possibilities:

• Muhammed Afzal Guru is not guilty of the crime attributed on him: This is indeed possible. The activists defending him have given details of how Md. Afzal was not allowed a lawyer to represent him, how the witnesses were not cross-questioned, how forcible confessions were extracted by threatening his family. Even if some of it is correct, this makes the case for his hanging entirely baseless. Baring the likes of Narendra Modi, who believe that a human being deserves to die merely for committing the crime of being born as a muslim, it is nobody’s case that an innocent should be awarded capital punishment.

• Md. Afzal did provide logistical support to the attackers on the parliament: The entire debate is based on this assumption. Let’s take a deeper look at this scenario.

On the face of it, the Kashmiris are claiming that Md. Afzal has been wrongly framed by the Indian state, but it is evident that deep down his celebrity status is because of his involvement in the crime. The attack on the parliament on 13th december 2001 was a direct attack on the sovereignty of the Indian state. Let’s make no mistake that the sense of alienation among the kashmiris runs deep, and except for the fact that five brave policemen died on that day doing their duties, they hail the attack on the parliament. And our state is doing its bit in making a non-descript failure as a martyr for an entire cause.

What is also evident is that the separatists, especially the hardline faction, want Md. Afzal to be hanged on the precise date fixed by the courts. They have urged him not to file a mercy petition knowing fully well that the Indian constitutional mechanism does not allow his sentence to be commuted in the absence of a formal plea for mercy. The hardline hurriyat is doing what they do best, utilizing the kashmiri alienation to further their own gains. Turning down his mercy plea will be playing into the hands of the terrorists and their supporters.

In case the allegations are true, the hindu fundamentalists believe that pardoning Md. Afzal will actually ‘incentivise the terrorists’. That’s not going to happen. Only the divine can forgive, the strong can give people a second chance, we are definitely not going to come up as a weak state by commutting his death sentence. On the contrary, we will emerge as a much stronger nation, not only in op-ed columns, but also in the heart and minds of the people of this country. Let us give him a chance, if not of joining the mainstream, then at least to realsie his mistakes.

In case the allegations are true, Md. Afzal is no Bhagat Singh. He is a cowardly manipulator, who has no idea what he is fighting against and why. He does not have the courage to admit to his role in the attack on parliament, or to speak up for the attrocities committed by the Indian armed forces in Kashmir. If he is pleading for mercy, he is doing it on our terms. He is not a hero, he is the weak one, the savarkar of the Kashmiri separatism. By hanging him, we are going to make a Bhagat Singh out of him, we will embolden the separatists.

In case the allegations are true, it is fundamentally wrong to use the victim’s anger to kill another person. The five policemen braved their lives to maintain the sanctity of our democracy. They departed souls are not going to come back by hanging the perpetrators. Instead, he should be imprisoned for life, let him see the misery that his actions have put others into. Take it from me, one of these days he is going to cry hearing of other’s pain.

Few Kashmiri friends believe that Afzal is sentenced to death because he is a Kashmiri. They are probably right. We have a history of glossing over far greater crimes. A few weeks after the attack on parliament, VHP/Bajrang dal goons entered the Orissa assembly and created a commotion. Not one of them were even arrested. How many industrialists or politicians have been punished for their crimes in independent India? Does our judiciary have the courage to convict an influential person for the crimes committed, and sentence him to death? What if instead of the terrorists, a bunch of youngsters decide to eliminate the corrupt politicians? Iam sure that the whole country would have erupted in their support (a. la. Rang de basanti). We were outraged on 13th december 2001, but we have heard people saying that, ‘kuchh netaon ko lekar marte to zyada achcha hota’. The people of this country are fed up of politicians, and ironically the public opinion is manufactured to benefit their creed. Perhaps Afzal is hanged because he is a Kashmiri.
Md. Afzal’s death sentence presents a rare oppurtunity to all of us. It is time to mend fences, to make inroads into the hearts and minds of the alieanated Kashmiris, to work towards a better and safe tomorrow for our next generations. Despite what my intuition says, we must hope that our leadership doesn’t let go of this oppurtunity. Let utilize this debate to bring to a final conclusion, the long pending demand of abolishing capital punishment.

Let’s first ask these questions before deciding:

• Will our country be safer if Md. Afzal is hanged: The answer is NO.
• Will we produce more terrorists, if a minor terrorist like him, without any organizational backing is put behind bars fo the rest of his life: The answer is NO.
• Will the separatists rejoice if Md. Afzal is hanged: The answer is YES.
• Will Kashmir be more integrated to the ethos of our country if his sentence is not commuted: The answer is NO
• Will there be no more attacks on our national heritage, if we hang Md. Afzal? Does he have that sort of power, charisma or backing? The answer is again NO.
• Will we be a less civilised country, if we hang a kashmiri activist who is not bold enough to speak for his people: NO.
• Finally, will there be no custodial deaths, no illegal arrests, no brutal interrogation, no encounter killings, if Md. Afzal is hanged: The answer is unfortunately again a big NO.

If the president of India accepts Md. Afzal’s mercy plea, it will not only be beneficial to the accussed, but also to the Kashmiris and the citizens of this country. We will gain the trust of an entire set of people. The only person to lose out will be the politicians of all hues and colours, the ‘bin-pendi-ka-lota‘ types, the terrorists, the hurriyat, the hindu fundamentalists, the congress party. These are precisely the forces who are going to gain the most if the mercy petition is turned down, and as is highly likely he is hung on 20th october. The BJP will have, ‘one terrorist was sentenced to death because of our campaign’, the congress will have its ‘one terrorist was sentenced to death under our rule’, the separatists will have ‘on Kashmiri was murdered by the Indian state’ , each will have something for their constituency. One cannot help but feel pity at the Md. Afzal guru’s family, whose tragedy has been reduced to a free-for-all stepping stone for politicians.