Author: Siddheshwar Shukla
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: December 13, 2007
On the eve of the sixth anniversary of the
attack on Parliament, the relatives of martyrs on Wednesday said that they
will continue to raise their demand for execution of Mohammad Afzal, the main
accused in the attack case, till he is sent to the gallows.
The relatives of 10 martyrs holding torches
and candles in their hands along with hundreds of school and college students
marched on Parliament Street on Wednesday to commemorate "the attack
on the temple of democracy" demanding execution of prime accused.
Simultaneously, they also declared that they
would boycott the function being organised by the Government in Parliament
premises to mark the incident on Thursday. "The Government is totally
responsible for the delay in the execution of prime accused Afzal. He must
be executed very soon," said MS Bitta, the chairman of the All-India
Anti-Terrorist Front, leading the family of the martyrs. Youth, carrying placards,
which read "Nation Salutes its brave soldiers", were shouting slogans
"Bharat Mata ki Jai", "Vandemataram" and "hang Afzal",
as they marched.
"The relatives of martyrs are running
from pillar to post to get compensation and leaders for whom our soldiers
sacrificed their lives have forgotten them. The Government should better place
the medals that the dependants returned to it in the National Museum so that
future generations could see the true face of our leadership," added
Bitta.
The family members of the 10 martyrs present
on the occasion took their turn to criticize the Government's lackadaisical
approach in condemning the terrorist attacks. "We will continue our struggle
till the prime accused is executed," said Sardar Singh, father of Om
Prakash, head constable of Delhi Police who succumbed to bullet injuries six
year ago.
"The Government says day in and day out
that it is committed to root out terrorism from the country. Then, why are
they not executing a terrorist who had been sentenced by the Supreme Court?"
asked Avadhesh Kumar, husband of CRPF constable Kamlesh Kumari who also laid
her life during the attack.
