KL Report
Srinagar
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Saturday in a statement expressed disappointment over the hanging of Afzal Guru and demanded that the body should be handed over to family.
“We have learnt about the execution of Mohammad Afzal Guru with a sense of disappointment. We believe that whatever the requirements of legal process, there was a need for the government to take into consideration the overall political impact of this execution, which is why the option of mercy has been provided under our constitution,” read the statement.
Calling the decision as detrimental to the relations between state and center, PDP said, “we feel that at a time when there is a need to step up measures to reduce the trust deficit between the state and rest of the country, the execution of Afzal Guru could produce results to the contrary. Our party is generally in favour of scrapping death penalty from the statute book and we reiterate that position once again.”
The party demands that the body should be handed over to family for proper rites and accused NC led coalition government of being equal shareholders of the decisions.
“We also believe that the state government cannot be absolved of its responsibility in taking this crucial decision that can have long term political implications on the state. The NC is part of the UPA and it must share the responsibility for this decision,” read the statement.
“We appeal for restraint as the people of the state have already suffered too long and too much with loss of life in 2010 only the latest which awaits closure,” the statement added.
