E-Paper
Muslims demand capital punishment for Afzal
MEMBERS OF the Muslim community, including women, took to the streets here on Saturday to register their protest against the ongoing debate and demonstrations to pardon the mastermind conspirator of Parliament attack Afzal. Burqa-clad Muslim women and rag-picker kids under the banner Vishal Bharat Sansthan staged a demonstration at Sigra in Varanasi on Saturday and hanged a token effigy of Afzal till death in support of their demand.
MEMBERS OF the Muslim community, including women, took to the streets here on Saturday to register their protest against the ongoing debate and demonstrations to pardon the mastermind conspirator of Parliament attack Afzal.
Burqa-clad Muslim women and rag-picker kids under the banner Vishal Bharat Sansthan staged a demonstration at Sigra in Varanasi on Saturday and hanged a token effigy of Afzal till death in support of their demand. Vishal Bharat Sansthan demanded hanging of Afzal on the scheduled date fixed by the Supreme Court.
The demonstrators were holding placards and raising slogans like, ‘Kashmir Ho Ya Kashi, Afzal Ko Milegi Phansi,’ ‘Jisko Afzal Pyara Hai Wo Bhi Gaddar Aur Hatyara Hai’, ‘Gaddar Bharat Chodo Afzal Duniya Chodo’ and ‘Bachcha Bachcha Mang Raha Insaf, Mat Kijiye Afzal Ko Maaf’.
The protesters strongly criticised those politicians and intellectuals who were in favour of exempting Afzal from capital punishment.
They were of the view that Afzal should not be pardoned from capital punishment. A protestor Naznin Ansari said there was no religion for Afzal.
“He is a terrorist and should be hanged,” she said.
Dr Rajiv Dwivedi, a faculty member of the History Department in Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapeeth (MGKV), said that if Afzal was exempted from capital punishment, people would come out on the streets and vent out their anger.
President of the Vishal Bharat Sansthan, Rajiv Srivastava said Afzal should be hanged on the scheduled date fixed by the Supreme Court. “Anti-nationalists should not be pardoned,” he said and added that India was country of Lord Rama and Krishna where the killers of humanity were not spared.
