Death Penalty for Afzal.

The Supreme Court has awarded the death penalty to Mohammed Afzal for his role in the attack on the India Parliament in December 2001.The date of hanging was fixed for the 20th of October 2006.The judgement has sparked off a a big debate in India about the need or otherwise for the death penalty.Afzal has sent a clemency petition to the President of India as the legal avenue is exhausted.A section of the people of Jammu and Kashmir have demanded that the sentence should not be carried out.The Chief Minister of the state has joined the quorus.His contention is that the hanging may create problems in the state and also jeopardise the peace process with Pakistan.Some of the legal brains have called for commutation of the sentence to that of a life term as the death penalty is not warranted in the case as Afzal was not the main accused and only one of the conspirators.It is also argued that the death penalty has been abolished in many countries.On the other hand,one of the opposition party in India viz the BJP has demanded that the death punishment should stand and that Afzal should be hanged.It is argued by them that the highest court of the land has awarded the sentence after going into the circumstances of the case and that the acceptance of the clemancy petition by the President will send wrong signals.

The so called peace process is a one way process and Pakistan is not serious.To expect that the hanging will have effect on the process does not make sense.The contention of the CM of the state that the hanging will create problems in the state is not acceptable.The foremost duty of a Government is to ensure law and order and if this cannot be done,the Government should quit.What is the guarantee that Afzal will not become a hard core terrorist once he is pardoned and India witnesses the situation it faced in 2001 when the Foreign Minister of the country had to escort a condemned criminal to the Taliban?It is also known that the said criminal is involved in acts against our country.

On the other hand,the death sentence also appears to be too harsh considering the fact Afzal was not directly involved.A life for a crime is not the solution.The best course for the President would be to accept the clemency petition of Afzal and commute the sentence to life term meaning not 14 years as is the custom in India but for say 25 years.However the President should not succumb to pressures from quarters to pardon Afzal.