Some Hurriyat moderates not against hanging Afzal Guru

Independent MLA Engineer Abdul Rashid last week moved a resolution in the Assembly seeking clemency for Guru. The PDP has pledged its support. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah recently tweeted that had the J&K Assembly sought re-consideration of Guru’s mercy plea,“similar to the Tamil Nadu one” (on Rajiv’s killers),he doubted “the reaction would have been as muted”.

Lone told the US officials that given their compulsions,they can’t make their views public. “If someone is a terrorist,” Lone said,“they should meet a violent end,” the cable says. “He said politically,however,moderate members of the Hurriyat are unable to express this view publicly,given the mood in the Valley and the threat from terrorists. For this reason,the moderate Hurriyat as a body has remained relatively quiet about the issue.”

JKLF chief Yasin Malik,however,argued that Guru doesn’t warrant a death sentence. “For Malik the case represents a crucial problem for India in its efforts to bring former combatants back into mainstream society. Afzal’s only crime,Malik argued,was buying a car. How does this warrant a death sentence?”

Terming the case a headache for Congress at the national level,the cable says it is posing electoral problems for the party. “Outside of Kashmir,public opinion is strongly in favor of Afzal’s execution. On the other hand,Congress does not want to anger the Muslim population in Uttar Pradesh just ahead of crucial elections in February 2007,” it adds.

The cable hints at frictions between Congress president Sonia Gandhi and the then President A P J Abdul Kalam. “…. If Kalam believes Sonia won’t grant him a second term next summer,he may choose to push the issue into the forefront again at a crucial moment,” it says.