JOIN USPeoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti said on Tuesday that the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru and “the manner of dealing with the fallout in Kashmir has resulted in reinforcement of the sense of denial of justice among the people.”
In a statement, Mehbooba said: “There is a long standing grouse among the people in the state that they have been treated differently and unjustly at collective and individual levels when it came to application of law and constitution. Unfortunately this view has only been vindicated by the way and the myopic handling of Guru’s case and its impact on Kashmir.”
The firebrand opposition leader said while the long term repercussions of Afzal hanging would have to be observed carefully “it is the time that government of India revisits the entire approach to J&K and the problems faced by it.”
She said at present there is a clear perception that Guru has been hanged with political motives and Kashmir has been made a pawn in the electoral politics. This, she claimed, has added to feeling of alienation and is the antithesis of what is universally acknowledged as spirit of nationhood.
“Guru execution comes in the background of thousands of unmarked graves, cold blooded killings by state on street and in fake encounters, custodial deaths and unresolved disappearances. Investigation in to all these cases has either not been taken up at all or is stonewalled on one pretext or the other,” she said.
“The roots of alienation lie in this application of double standards and unless it is addressed with boldness and an open mind it would be difficult to resolve Kashmir through selective application of law and that too in distinctly unholy manner as in case of Guru.”