Visit Indian Travel Sites
Goa,
Kerala,
Tamil Nadu,
Andhra Pradesh,
Delhi,
Rajasthan,
Uttar Pradesh,
Himachal Pradesh,
Assam,
Sikkim,
Madhya Pradesh,
Jammu & Kashmir
Karnataka
|
Congress, BJP in spat over hanging of 2001 Parliament attack convict | The war of words between the Congress party and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the delay in hanging Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru continued on Friday with senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad condemning the statement of Congress about BJP President Nitin Gadkari.
"The statement of Congress spokesperson about BJP President Nitin Gadkari is shameful,
discourtesies and unfortunate and I condemn it. What Gadkari said is reflection
of agony of this country and agony of the families of those killed by militants
in this country. Is it not true that mercy petition of Afzal Guru was held up
for four years," said Prasad. "Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit has publicly
acknowledged that the then Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil had asked her to
sit on that file. The file is still pending. It is insult to the martyrs, policemen
and watch and ward staff of Parliament who lost their lives while defending the
country," he added. The BJP leader also questioned the logic of resuming the dialogue
process with Pakistan, if it continued to back the militants. "Recently (foreign)
secretary-level talks took place, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram visited Pakistan.
Leaders of Pakistan had assured that action will be taken against militants,"
said Prasad. "Then what is happening, why is it happening and if situation is
like this why the dialogue process was resumed? We would like to ask the Prime
Minister," he added. The Congress on Friday criticized Gadkari for taunting it
over the delay in hanging Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. "It is very obvious
that Gadkari has lost his mind completely. The BJP should take pity on him and
deposit him into a psychiatric facility. The man needs serious help," said Congress
spokesman Manish Tiwari. "The remark smacks of obscenity, obnoxiousness and obtuseness,"
he added. "This is a very disgraceful statement. This has once again proved that
Gadkari is not mature enough to be the president of a national party," said party
spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed. On Thursday, Gadkari had asked the Centre to stop
treating Afzal Guru as the son-in-law of the Congress party. Gadkari said: "I
want to ask the Congress leaders if Afzal Guru is their son-in-law. It is a party
full of fearful people. They can never fight with terrorists and can never get
rid of terrorism. It is a party which will bow down in front of terrorists and
can never protect India." Afzal was awarded the death sentence by a Delhi court
on December 18, 2002 after being convicted of conspiracy to attack Parliament
on December 13, 2001, waging war against the country and committing murder. Delhi
High Court upheld the death sentence on October 29, 2003 and the Supreme Court
rejected his appeal two years later on August four, 2005. Following this, Afzal
filed a mercy petition with the President, who forwarded it to Union Home Ministry
for its comments. The 2001 Parliament attack, led to the death of a dozen people;
five terrorists, six policemen and a civilian. |
|
|
|
|
|