Expect countrywide protests if Afzal is pardoned: BJP

Javadekar demanded that those advocating a pardon for Afzal should 8220;apologise to the nation for insulting security personnel who died fighting the terrorists who had attacked the Parliament House8221;.

He condemned the position taken by J-K CM Ghulam Nabi Azad favouring clemency for Afzal. 8220;We are shocked at this sympathetic approach towards a man who has been convicted by the highest court for an attack on the seat of our democracy,8221; he said. The Congress, he maintained, had been always soft towards terror and terrorists due to its vote-bank politics.

He said making POTA an election and its subsequent repeal, warning security forces of zero tolerance for human rights violation, asking police not to have a social bias while investigating terror attacks and the unanimous resolution adopted by the Kerala Assembly seeking release of Coimbatore blasts accused Abdul Nasser Mahdani were examples of a soft approach.