By IANS,
Srinagar : Moderate Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umer Farooq Friday said if parliament attack convict Afzal Guru is hanged, the peace process between India and Pakistan would be derailed and it would also affect Kashmir.
“If Afzal Guru is hanged, not only would the peace process between India and Pakistan be derailed, but the situation in Kashmir would take a serious turn.
“The responsibility for the consequences would lie entirely with the government of India in case they chose such a step,” Mirwaiz Umer told a well-attended Friday congregation at the historic Jamia Mosque in Nowhatta area of summer capital Srinagar.
The Mirwaiz also lambasted the right wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), accusing it of mounting pressure on the central government for Afzal’s hanging.
The union home ministry has sent the mercy petition of Afzal Guru waiting on death row in Tihar Jail to the President with the recommendations that it be rejected.
Afzal Guru was found guilty of plotting the Dec 13, 2001 parliament attack in which nine people were killed. He was sentenced to death in 2002. The Delhi High Court confirmed the death penalty in 2003. The sentence was scheduled to be carried out Oct 20, 2006 after the Supreme Court upheld it in 2004.
But the execution was stayed following a mercy petition filed by his wife. He remains on death row.