And his life should become extinct - Afzal debate!!!

And his life should become extinct

Vinayak asked me to respond to Arundhati Roy’s article in support of clemency for Afzal Guru. The lesser I care for the views for pseudo-secularists like her, the more would I ignore her article – till something that happened today made me search google for her reactions. I will come to the todays happening later… but first lets look at what arguments Arudhati Roy makes in support of Afzal Guru’s innocence.

Of course, the Goddess of Small Minorities that she is – her booker is proof enough that she has a way with words… and that she has leveraged aptly to write a loooong article – which basically just makes the following conclusions, which in my view are just her myopic assumptions:

• Afzal Guru is innocent – because SAR Geelani was acquitted by the Indian judiciary in the same crime. But now, Indian judiciary is a mad house – because it found Afzal Guru guilty. Interesting to see how this intelligentia has unilaterally decided what the acceptable verdict has to be. Courts be damned!!! If the verdict is not according to its liking, the trial is termed fake and the verdict is a failure of judiciary. I wonder why none of them thought that the very same judiciary was pronouncing a verdict in error when it acquitted SAR Geelani.

• Afzal Guru’s trial is totally based on all false evidence and there is nothing true in the case. Madame’ Roy could very well have made this case in the court – while the hearings were still in progress and matter under argument. Making such post mortem judgments based on versions which she conveniently wants to believe as true is not only abysmal activism but also pathetic – since it’s a direct insult to the national judiciary. If she had such conviction – she could very well have hired legal help for Afzal earlier on (she is rich enough to afford that) and proved the case in the court of law – rather that damn it now. The case has been heard thrice over and the verdict stands unchanged – ensuring that truth has been given ample opportunity to be validated. Ms. Roy – you better shut up now or join your friend Yassin Malik on a walk to Pakistan – you will get real judicial justice there.

• Afzal Guru was victimized by the then government so as to be able to find premise for launching a war on Pakistan. Which war? And if this war was such a priority, why didn’t it happen. Ms. Roy is probably weaving yet another plot for yet another novel. If at all successive governments had the urge and the spine to launch an open attack on Pakistan, there is a mountain of evidence to substantiate Pakistan’s role in terrorist attacks in India. Or does Madame’ Roy want to make us believe that Pakistan is the lamb of her God and the cruel cunning devil India needed to fabricate a Parliament attack to get an excuse to kill this lamb. If so, may she please emigrate to the lamb-state and be happy there (as a second class citizen – unless she is willing to convert from Christianity).

• Madame Roy also makes a reference to her favorite Gujarat riots here – for no evident reason. Gujarat riots were nothing but an extension of the Godhra carnage – but never has one heard her talk of the 100-odd innocent Hindu’ passengers who were killed. ‘Goddess of Small Minorities’ simply wanted to ensure that readers are reminded of her (pseudo)-secular profile and the dharna’s she did for the minorities then. After all, these events are similar – meant to bolster the same element in her resume.

• As per Ms Roy, the terrorism in Kashmir is due to the para-military forces in the valley – who are plain old-devils and the jehadi’s from across the LOC – the Jaish or Lashkar cadre’s are the men of St. Peter’s guarding the valley. The STF, the SOG and all the security forces in the valley – as per her, should operate without any arms and ammunition and be left ‘both hands tied behind them’ on the street crossings for target practice by the pious young terrorists fresh from their training camps in Afghanistan and POK. She seems to have a blind eye for the fidayeen (suicide attacks) and the guerilla’ war-fare that the security forces have to face each day in the valley.

• Ms. Roy has empathy for the enraged people of Kashmir, for the war-torn zone that they are living in and the pain related to it. But doesn’t care a hoot for the terror victims of Mumbai, the blast victims of Delhi or Varanasi or the families of those innocent men killed on that fateful day of December 13, 2001. Why should she – they were stupid Indians who deserved to dies anyway. She doesn’t care see that Kashmiri’s are facing a pain in the valley – of their own making. They want to wage a covert war – they invited and hosted the mercenaries from petro-funded Jehad groups in illusion of a Nizam-e-Mustafa, they have a mission of Jihad…so the pain is just a bargain for the fruits of the mission. But what did the innocent foot boarders of 7/11 trains bargain for?

And also other arguments that…

• There was a media orgy forcing the judiciary and the system to prosecute someone – Afzal becoming the victim.

• Death Sentence should be abolished as it is not a civil form of punishment.

Well… I neither have the panache’ nor patience like Ms Roy to write reams to weave my story.

My simple question to Ms Roy is – and that’s where today’s this event comes into picture. (Priyadarshini Mattoo case: Santosh Kumar Singh gets death penalty).

With her gift of words, all the above arguments can also be used to plead innocence of Santosh Singh. He was acquitted by a court (like SAR Geelani) – so he must be innocent. He is a victim of media and public orgy to have a result and someone punished. There is total reliance on circumstantial evidence only – so that can be claimed as fabricated. He is a father of an even younger innocent kid – so he should be pardoned. He is also getting the most un-civil punishment – death.

So, let Ms. Roy go out and plead clemency for Santosh Singh as well. In spite of my utter hatred for Santosh and the crime he committed (incidentally, the victim Priyadarshini Mattoo was a Kashmiri too), I would salute Ms Roy for her neutrality and acknowledge that she is truely in there for a belief - and not to just accumulate brownie's for the next Peace Prize.

If death sentence is vulgar, it should be vulgar irrespective of whether the neck belongs to a Muslim or anyone else. If the courts of India are not reliable and unnecessarily trigger happy, they would be so in both cases. If the trial by media (and I have no love for this media either) was trigger for Afzal’s agony, its been worse for Santosh.

So Ms. Roy… Stand up and fight for Santosh too… Otherwise, give me an answer. Why shouldn’t you be tried for treason against India – if you have the audacity to support and share platform with Yasin Malik – a self-confessed murderer out on bail for murder of scores of unarmed Kashmiri Pandits and airmen.

And yeah... Vinayak, to be honest,... in relative terms I do think Afzal got a raw deal... Afterall, if Bitta Karate got away scot free - after murdering more than 40 kashmiri Pandits, and remorselessly confessing it with a brazen face on national TV, Afzal's hands are soaked with blood of just 5 men...