Karat keeps mum on Afzal's death sentence issue

Chandigarh, Oct 10 (UNI) Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Prakash Karat today said he would not like to comment on the issue of commuting Mohammad Afzal's death sentence into life imprisonment.

''It is up to the President to decide on Afzal's clemency,'' he said, when asked about the party's viewpoint on the issue.

Mohammad Afzal faces execution on October 20 in connection with the terror strike on Parliament in 2001, while his mercy petition is lying pending with President A P J Abdul Kalam.

UNI XC PS YA DB2137