New Delhi: A day ahead of the fifth anniversary of the December 13 Parliament attack, the Afzal issue has returned to haunt Parliament on Tuesday when the Opposition created an uproar in the House questioning the delay in the President's decision on Mohammed Afzal Guru's mercy petition.
Responding to the Opposition charge, Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil said time was being taken on the issue because of the formalities involved. "The government does not want to take a hasty decision. The past records also show that the decision on clemency petitions have always been a long process," he said.
He was responding to opposition leader LK Advani's demand to take a decision on Afzal before December 13 as families of the security personnel killed in the attack have asked the government to reject the clemency petition before the anniversary date. Patil promptly accused the Opposition of 'whipping up the emotions of the family members' of those who died protecting the parliament building.
The families of the security personnel killed in the 2001 Parliament attack have been campaigning for execution of Afzal as ordered by the Supreme Court, saying nothing short of this will be acceptable to them.
In case the mercy petition of Guru was accepted by the government, members of some of the families said that they would be left with no option but to return the various police medals awarded to the victims of the attack. The families have set a December 13 deadline for a decision on Afzal's mercy petition, failing which they have threatened to return the medals to President APJ Abdul Kalam.
Last week, these families said that in case Afzal's death sentence was reduced, the "awards would be nothing but plain humiliation to the sacrifice by the valiant soldiers who went down fighting the terrorists while protecting the highest epitome of democracy and distinguished parliamentarians."
After Advani raised the issue during Zero Hour, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi said the Opposition leader should apologise for not protecting the Parliament building in 2001. Advani was then the Home Minister. This provoked BJP members, who were on their their feet shouting at the treasury benches.
Explaining the procedures for examining a clemency petition, Patil said the government had to seek the state government's views before it is passed on to the law ministry. "If the decision of the government is not in conformity with the law, the Supreme Court can again interfere," Patil said.
He recollected that the government took five years to examine the clemency petition of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi assassins. Patil's remarks that some people have been trying to whip up the emotions of the family members of the slain security personnel irked BJP members, and they walked out of the house along with the Shiv Sena MPs.
"Please do not try to divide the country over this issue," Patil pleaded as the MPs were going out.
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