YOU CAN HANG A KASHMIRI
BUT YOU CAN'T HANG THE TRUTH

 Afzal Guru shall embrace death, as a Kashmiri, on the 20th of October if not granted a Presidential Pardon. Reports indicate that he is not seeking a Presidential Pardon, however his wife does want to seek pardon - for the sake of her son. Political parties irrespective of their political stand are all demanding a rollback of the death verdict.

Whether Afzal Guru embraces death on the 20th of October or is granted a Presidential Pardon, he can never be hanged.

Afzal Guru is a Kashmiri.

Afzal Guru is an ideology.

Afzal Guru is the truth that is Kashmir.

A Kashmiri, an ideology and the truth can never be hanged.

The Afzal Guru case has revealed the almost impossible to fill differences that exists between the thoughts, feelings, hopes and aspirations of Kashmiris and Indians. Almost 90% of Indians demand that Afzal should be hanged, some even want that his supporters (Kashmiris) to be hanged as well, publicly. While as all Kashmiris see in Afzal a man who has been falsely implicated, a majority of Indian people see him as the face of terror, which he is not. Afzal did not have a chance to defend himself. The Supreme Court of India had upheld that:

“The incident, which resulted in heavy casualties, had shaken the entire nation and the collective conscience of the society will only be satisfied if capital punishment is awarded to the offender.”

Is Afzal being made a scape goat for the ‘collective conscience of the society?’ Nandita Haksar asks:

Can the collective conscience of our people be satisfied if a fellow citizen is hanged without having a chance to defend himself? (courtesy of counter currents)

National Democratic Alliance released a bunch of ‘terrorists’ when an Indian aircraft was hijacked in 1998. An Indian Union Minister, Jaswant Singh, escorted them to Afghanistan and bade them goodbye. The lapses of the Indian Government in controlling the situation in Amritsar should have called for scrutiny and the then government could have been declared as a ‘conspirator’ as well. But, nothing of this sort happened. Why do the people of India forget or ignore lapses of their own government? Why don’t they ask questions? Is it because it is easy to imagine Kashmiri as a terrorist? Is it because a Kashmiri is a terrorist till and until proved otherwise?

Delhi Police is (in)famous for its investigations, cases like the Priyadarshini Mattoo and the Jessica Lal murders have revealed the truth about the Delhi Police, but as far as Afzal’s case is concerned, Delhi Police, from the blue, emerges as a credible organisation! It is amazing that the Judge who presided over the case is known as the ‘Hanging Judge.’ Arundhati Roy, one of the few Indians who understands Kashmir slightly better, supports Afzal and claims, rightly, that the evidence is faulty:

“The whole case is full of faulty evidence and fabricated stories and to hang someone for something he may not have done is not fair.” (courtesy of rediff)

Elsewhere in Kashmir, two innocents were shot dead by the army in yet another mistaken case identity but not a single Indian has spoken against it. Not a single Indian rises against the human rights violations in Kashmir with the same conviction with which they are demanding death to a Kashmiri.

Nirmalangshu Mukherji’s and Inam ul Rehman’s article provide food for the thought, for those who have a desire to know the truth.