Author: M.V. Kamath
Publication: Afternoon Despatch & Courier
Date: November 3, 2006
URL: http://cybernoon.com/DisplayArticle.asp?section=fromthepress&subsection=editorials&xfile=November2006_mediawatch_standard165&child=mediawatch
Introduction: If Guru is pardoned, the blood
of the Indian security guards, who were killed, will be on their hands - for
ever. There is only one thing Guru deserves. Public hanging
On October 8, Hindustan Times carried a shocking
story. It said that "convent-educated Pune faith healer Sohail Sheikh
was asked by the chief of Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) to
tail and 'bump off' BJP leader L.K. Advani". In his confession to the
police, (recorded in Marathi), the alleged mastermind of the July 11 serial
bombings in Mumbai, Faisal Sheikh said that Sohail (38) "had one-to-one
meeting with the ISI chief", who asked Sohail "to begin collecting
intelligence on Advani and a few other top leaders, other targets as well,
like Indian armed forces' military installations, the Bombay Stock Exchange
and the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre".
Faisal (31) is the Lashkar-e-Toiba's "Western
Indian Commander". Advani was to be the first target for assassination
and Sohail was asked to track Advani's travel schedule. Sohail was given an
e-mail address and also a few telephone numbers that could reach the ISI chief
via Dubai.
Afzal, a martyr?
On October 9, Hindustan Times carried yet
another story, this time as a front-page lead which said that the "11/7
brain admits to plotting abortive hit on Modi". The story again, was
based on confessions to the police made by Faisal Khan, who apparently admitted
to have planned "the failed assassination attempt on Gujarat Chief Minister
Narendra Modi as well." The attempt had been foiled by the Ahmedabad
Police, which shot dead the four would-be assassins, including one Ishrat
Jahan, a 19-year-old BSc student from Mumbai (Mumbra) on June 16, 2004.
Gen. Musharraf, of course, will vehemently
deny the accuracy of these stories and demand "evidence" which is
par for the center. The business of ISI is killing Indians and the business
of Musharraf is to defend the killers. Indeed, he has admitted in his memoirs
that he was more an "officer than a gentleman". He, no doubt, still
remains an officer than a gentleman.
Hindustan Times should also get credit for
yet another story (9 October) featured on the front-page that several female
students from "some of the best universities in England" have been
turning to "prostitution or sex-related work" to fund heir rising
tuition fees. The annual tuition fees for undergraduate courses apparently
have trebled from 1,000 pounds (Rs. 85,000) in 1998 to 3,000 pounds now.
To give Hindustan Times its due, in that same
issue (October 9) it carried an extremely well-argued case against Mohamad
Faizal 'Guru' insisting that "the fear that Afzal will become a martyr
for Kashmir is unfounded", that "India should not show itself up
as a soft state by granting reprieve to those who endanger its sovereignty
and "Afzal must be hanged if India has to survive".
But the paper also gave space to Abhishek
Singhvi, a senior Advocate of the Supreme Court of India and a Congress MP,
who maintained that "seeking clemency is a right", on the grounds
that "clemency, pardon, reprieve and the entire gamut of post-conviction
processes available to a convict have been a part of our Constitution from
its inception" and "specific provisions provide for it".
According to this Congress spokesman, the
party's stand is "in favour of a hands off policy". But Mr. Singhvi
knows that he is on slippery ground. And he is playing it both ways. As he
put it, "equally, the stand that Afzal must necessarily and as a matter
of inalienable right be granted clemency - made by almost sections of the
political spectrum in J & K, including the Congress government in that
state - is untenable because it eliminates all discretion and application
of the guidelines regarding clemency. It imposes a result irrespective of
the merit or otherwise of Afzal's case".
But why are some of our editors and most Congressman,
afraid to take a definite stand and demand that Afzal deserves to be hanged?
Indians, Amartya Sen, said the other day, are argumentative and will go to
any length to be argumentative just for the heck of it. Writing in The Indian
Express, S. Gurumurthy damned secularists, saying: "Afzal is not just
anti-national. He attempted to defy not just the law of crimes... he attempted
to destroy the Constitution. He was the main conspirator in the attack on
Indian Parliament in 2001. With Pakistan providing the attackers, he conspired
to kill or take as hostage, the prime minister and other ministers and parliament
members... so his is no ordinary crime. He is a terrorist, not an ordinary
criminal..."
The Tribune (3 October) said that: "no
country in its right mind can justify or condone such a diabolic act as attack
on parliament". It added: "What must be remembered is that the apex
court reduced the sentences of several others. By not doing so in Guru's case,
it has established that his guilt is proven beyond all doubts.
There seems hardly a ground for clemency for
Afzal Guru..."
"The Pioneer (5 October) thought that
the entire debate on clemency is "spurious", that "the gravity
of the crime demands that the petition should be rejected with the contempt
it deserves" and that "to even waste time and effort on considering
the merits of the appeal would be tantamount to heaping insult on the memory
of those who sacrificed their lives defending the very symbol of democracy
in India". "Allowing (Guru) to live for a day longer than October
20 would strengthen the hands that tend to destroy our nation" said the
paper sternly.
Fake publicity!
What is inexplicable is that hardly any paper
- barring The Tribune (27 September) published the story that the Pakistani
Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence of 12 persons found guilty of
involvement in two assassination attempts on President Musharraf in 2003.
A military court had sentenced the 12 convicts to death. The Lahore High Court
earlier had rejected an appeal from the convict, ruling that it did not have
the jurisdiction to overturn the verdict of a military court.
Musharraf was not killed. But all 12 persons
"guilty of involvement" have been sentenced to death by Pakistan's
Supreme Court. How many were killed at the instance of Faizal Guru? And how
many more would have been killed had not the security guards intervened, inviting
their own deaths? Have our newspapers cared to interview their wives and children?
Why should the Indian press give so much space to Guru's wife who called on
the President seeking clemency for her husband? Was all the fake publicity
called for? The English media has a lot to answer for. If Guru is pardoned,
the blood of the Indian security guards who were killed will be on their hands
- for ever. There is only one thing Guru deserves. Public hanging.
