BJP urges govt to hang Afzal Guru on Dec 13

New Delhi, Dec 11: The

has urged the ruling UPA to hang Parliament attack convict

on Dec 13 as eleven years ago five terrorists struck at the seat of Indian democracy on that very day.

"If the government hangs Afzal Guru on Dec 13 itself, there cannot be anything better to pay homage to the martyrs of the Dec 13 attack on Parliament," BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said here today.

He stressed that the government "should hang the attacker of Parliament during the session of the House." Putting forth the BJP's demand that the UPA must ignore "vote or election politics", Hussain added that the government "should not even think that someone will raise the issue in Parliament if he is hanged."

Interestingly, Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde told newspersons yesterday that he will look at the files pertaining to the mercy petitions of Afzal Guru and six others only after Parliament's Winter Session concludes.

Six security personnel were killed when five Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists attacked Parliament here on Dec 13, 2001.

Though the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had left following the adjournment of both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, Vice President Krishan Kant and Home Minister LK Advani were inside the Parliament House at that time.

All the terrorists were shot dead before they could harm any of the MPs but a gardener unfortunately got caught in the cross fire.

In connection with the terror attack, investigators filed charges against four persons - Afzal Guru, SAR Gilani, Shaukat Hussain Guru and Afsan Guru - in May 2002.

A special court awarded the death sentence to Afzal Guru later that year. The Supreme Court upheld the verdict.

Ever since 26/11 convict Ajmal Kasab was hanged last month, there has been intense pressure on the government to execute Afzal Guru too.

Opposition parties and several organisations have called for his hanging. However, the fear of violent repurcussions in Jammu and Kashmir has apparently forced the UPA-I and UPA-II regimes to defer the decision.

OneIndia News