Congress appears to be treading with caution on the issue of execution of Parliament attack
convict Afzal Guru.
While Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh has openly advocated early execution of Guru, another senior leader, who declined to be identified, said caution should be the watchword given its ticklish nature and possible fall-out
in the northernmost Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir.
Recalling the serious disturbances that had erupted in the Kashmir valley following the execution of Kashmiri separatist Maqbool Bhat in 1984, the leader said nothing should be done that has the potential to disturb the situation even slightly.
Bhatt was hanged in Tihar Jail in Delhi for killing a policeman.
According to the leader, Afzal Guru needed to be differntiated from the 26/11 Mumbai terror strike convict Ajmal Kasab who is a Pakistani national. Since the Parliament attack convict is an Indian national, the idea of keeping him behind bars all his life was "not a bad idea", he said.
Guru has filed a clemency plea.
Officially, the party struck a cautious note. Party spokesman Manish Tewari said there was a "process for the disposal of a celemency plea and both the central and the state governments are considering it". He said it was not appropriate for him to comment on it at this stage.
Digvijay Singh had said Wednesday that the Supreme Court has given death sentence to Guru for the kind of crime he has committed. "It should be done (carried out) at the earliest".
Another senior leader said the central government was unlikely to keep the Afzal Guru issue hanging for long and it could go for his execution within a year.