NEW DELHI: Omar Abdullah on Friday said that the Jammu and Kashmir government wouldn’t have approved the execution of Afzal Guru, adding that he did not believe in capital punishment. Abdullah was the chief minister of the undivided J&K in 2013 and was informed just 12 hours before the hanging.
“J&K government had nothing to do with Afzal Guru’s execution, otherwise you’d have to do it with the permission of the state government, which I can tell you in no uncertain terms would have been forthcoming.We wouldn’t have done it. I don’t believe that any purpose was served by executing him,” National Conference chief said in an exclusive interview to ANI.
Explaining his stance on not being a supporter of the capital punishment, Abdullah said, “Because I don’t believe in the infalliability in the system of courts, and the evidence has shown us time and time again, may not be in India but in places where you have executed people and found that you were wrong.”
This comes as Afzal Guru’s brother Ajaz Ahmad Guru decided to contest the first assembly elections in the Union Territory after Article 370 abrogation.
Guru’s execution in 2013, after being found guilty of being a key collaborator of the Pakistani jihadis who attacked Parliament on December 13, 2001, has brought polarising opinions from various political spectrums on the morality of capital punishment.
Elections in the UT is set to be held in three phases starting September 18. Votes would be counted on October 4.
“J&K government had nothing to do with Afzal Guru’s execution, otherwise you’d have to do it with the permission of the state government, which I can tell you in no uncertain terms would have been forthcoming.We wouldn’t have done it. I don’t believe that any purpose was served by executing him,” National Conference chief said in an exclusive interview to ANI.
Explaining his stance on not being a supporter of the capital punishment, Abdullah said, “Because I don’t believe in the infalliability in the system of courts, and the evidence has shown us time and time again, may not be in India but in places where you have executed people and found that you were wrong.”
This comes as Afzal Guru’s brother Ajaz Ahmad Guru decided to contest the first assembly elections in the Union Territory after Article 370 abrogation.
Guru’s execution in 2013, after being found guilty of being a key collaborator of the Pakistani jihadis who attacked Parliament on December 13, 2001, has brought polarising opinions from various political spectrums on the morality of capital punishment.
Elections in the UT is set to be held in three phases starting September 18. Votes would be counted on October 4.
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