Hyderabad, Feb 9: Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee has strongly condemned the execution of Afzal Guru in Tihar Jail.
 “It is a matter of shame for the whole civilized world that an innocent person, on whom criminal charges were framed on doubt, was hanged without informing his family members and his lawyers and without fulfilling last wishes of a dying person. It is a matter of more concern that even the last rites were not allowed to perform and he was buried in the Tihar jail premises itself. The attitude of government of India towards Afzal Guru reflects how the state behaves with Kashmiri people. Afzal Guru became the target of Indian state because he was a Muslim and belonged to Kashmir valley,” said Lateef  Khan, General Secretary of Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee.
 Civil Liberties, according to the statement, said that Afzal Guru was an innocent person and “became the victim of Indian agencies.”
 “The mystery of Parliament attack is not solved even today. Because those who attacked Parliament their identities are not known till now, in fact the government has not revealed their identities,” he said.
 “Afzal Guru was not a Pakistani, and there is no clear evidence that he was involved in the attack on Parliament except that he was a Kashmiri and a Muslim. Even Supreme Court Bench held that the collective conscience of the society will be satisfied only if the death penalty is awarded to Afzal Guru."
 Civil Liberties want to clear that judgments cannot be delivered on the basis of ‘collective conscience’ and on the basis of ‘faith of the majority community’.
 Civil Liberties express grave concern that when the President had rejected the clemency of Afzal Guru, then he had right to judicial review of this rejection. “But neither was he informed of rejection of mercy petition nor his family and lawyers were informed about it.  Instead of informing of mercy petition rejection, he was informed that he is going to be hanged in the next morning.”
 “Today, it may be a great day for the government of India and Hindutva people of India but for the justice loving people and believers of the Constitution as well as for the civilized world, 9th February 2013 is a Black Day, when an innocent Afzal Guru was brutally murdered by the government of India in the name of people of India, just trying to show concern about the security of Indians,” he alleged in the statement.
 “There is a political game behind it. The present Congress government wants to go to early elections.” 
 Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee believes that execution or capital punishment is an inhuman act and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of United Nations is against the capital punishment.
 “Very recently the United Nations assembled to abolish the capital punishment all over the world but unfortunately at this moment, India hanged a person who did not get fair chance to self defense.”
 This committee demands to the government of India to abolish the death penalty and follow the International standards of justice and fair trial for all.
 “Also demands the government of India to stop murdering of people in the name of idea of India.”
 “One thing should be clear that by hanging Afzal Guru, the mystery of Parliament attack does not solve, but it becomes more complicated more suspicious and it can also be said that the government of India instead of solving the case is trying maximum to dissolve it. It is largely believed that the Parliament attack case is not investigated properly and the role of then government and its agencies is highly suspicious. Still people believe that the BJP led government is behind the attack to save its government from falling and gain sympathy of majority community.”
 “Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee expressed solidarity with the family of Afzal Guru and also with the people of Kashmir, and their just demand of right self determination,” said the general secretary of the Hyderbad based organization.

Lastupdate on : Sat, 9 Feb 2013 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 9 Feb 2013 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 10 Feb 2013 00:00:00 IST