The dubious debate over Afzal Guru's hanging

The hanging of Afzal Guru for his role in the terror attack on the Indian parliament has elicited much reaction mostly in black and white terms Those in favour see the support as a sign perhaps a test of nationalism Those opposed to it mainly fall under three categories First are the people who completely oppose capital punishment whether for Qasab or for the alleged rapists in the Delhi gang rape case With only 43 countries routinely using capital punishment u00a0although 139 have it on their statutes this is an intellectually consistent position Pakistanis gather during a protest in Islamabad to condemn the execution of Mohammed Afzal Guru who was hanged on Saturday PicAFP After Qasabrsquos hanging Sachin Kalbag has already made a cogent case in these pages for debating the death penalty lsquoTime to start death penalty debatersquo November 22 2012 But these people have to work to get the law of the land as it stands today changed Till then all of us have to accept death penalty as a legal and valid punishment The second strand of opposition is from those who believe that Afzal Gurursquos hanging is politics at play It may be fashionably popular to use the word politics disparagingly but democratic governance is about politics The alternative to democratic politics is dictatorship whether of the Mugabe or the Musharraf kind or of the Shariah that Syed Geelani wants imposed in Jammu amp Kashmir If this is politics and nothing better to appreciate this politics than watch the recent Spielberg movie Lincoln then this is good politics Those who believe that this is cynical opportunism by the government wonrsquot be convinced but they have a valid concern about the discretion available to the executive to decide the time of the hanging That needs an informed public debate can criminals ordained to die be kept waiting interminablyu00a0 But the shrillest opposition to Afzal Gurursquos hanging has come from those who believe that justice was not served in this case and all the instruments of the Indian state including the Supreme Court connived to target an lsquoinnocentrsquo Kashmiri Muslim The subtle message being conveyed is that Afzal Guru was hanged by a communal Indian state because he was a Kashmiri and a Muslim The message is being lapped up in Pakistan whose existential identity as a country rests on portraying India as antiMuslim It is also being abetted by that section of Indian intelligentsia which to use Christopher Hitchensrsquo words believes that if the Indian state ldquowas doing something then that thing could not by definition be a moral or ethical actionrdquo However unpalatable this might be to many of us it actually showcases Indiarsquos vibrant liberal credentials unlike China or Pakistan that those vehemently attacking the Indian state are prominently featured in our media Coming back to the Afzal case justice is a subjective term which can often be bandied around rhetorically Remember the advice given by US Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes to an agitated young lawyer ldquoThis is a court of law young man not a court of justicerdquo Has the court of law done its job in this case Yes it has Forget the fact that Afzal Guru confessed to the crime in writing and then publicly in an open press conference he didnrsquot deny it even in his last media interview to Sahil Makkar many have claimed that he wasnrsquot provided with lawyers at any stage of the trial Ram Jethmalani fought his case in the Supreme Court and Shanti Bhushan the associated case of his cousin Shaukat Hussain Guru He also had support of assorted NGOs media columnists and pressure groups The judgements of both the Supreme Court and High Court are detailed answering all the questions raised by top lawyers Moreover if these courts were biased in this case they wouldnrsquot have abrogated or commuted sentences awarded to other accused Kashmiris Much has been made of the phrase ldquoto satisfy the collective conscience of a nationrdquo in the Supreme Courtrsquos verdict As unfortunate and avoidable as the use of the phrase was that is NOT the reason given for maintaining Afzalrsquos sentence It was because the Supreme Court concluded that he was ldquoproved to be the conspirator in this treacherous actrdquo Nothing is perfect but the Supreme Court is better equipped than newspapers TV studios and social media to determine guilt and innocence It does not act out of malice or viciousness or selectively target any region or religion That is true in Afzal Gurursquos case too Let us be very clear and firm about that Sushant K Singh is Fellow for National Security at the Takshashila Institution and editor of PragatiThe Indian National Interest Review