Do we need to rethink this hanging?

This refers to Nandita Haksar8217;s article advocating a rethink on the death sentence awarded to Mohammad Afzal for being part of the conspiracy that led to the terrorist attack on Parliament in 2001 8216;We haven8217;t even heard Afzal8217;s story8217;, IE, September 30. Haksar states that she is not questioning the court8217;s verdict, only the sentence awarded; yet her argument does not seem to be reasonable. For instance, she maintains that Afzal must not be hanged because among the others convicted in the case, several are in Pakistan and therefore cannot be awarded the death penalty even if extradited. In other words, because Afzal8217;s co-conspirators cannot be hanged for the simple reason that they are hiding in a different country, Afzal too should be given a reprieve!

Similarly flawed is her argument that Afzal should not be awarded the death penalty because he is not a terrorist himself nor does he belong to any terrorist organisation. Indeed, the Supreme Court itself has recognised this, as Haksar points out. But there is a much larger issue here. Afzal was as much a prime mover of the attack on Parliament as Tiger Memon and Dawood Ibrahim were of the 1993 blasts in Mumbai. Surely Haksar does not imply that, by the same token, Dawood and Memon should be spared the death penalty because they do not belong to any 8216;recognised8217; terrorist group and have not been extradited to India?

Above all, we must not lose sight of the nature of the crime. Afzal and his co-conspirators did not plan for failure when they meticulously set up the murderous attack on our Parliament. On the contrary they knew exactly what they were doing and what the consequences would be, and had it not been for the courage and sacrifices of our much-maligned security personnel, the entire top leadership of our political parties would have been wiped out. One shudders to think of what might have ensued had the attack succeeded 8212; nation-wide chaos, irreparable damage to our economic and political stability, tens of thousands dead in sectarian and communal rioting? Perhaps we must focus on this aspect while debating whether Afzal should be given a lesser sentence.

8212;R. P. Subramanian