A Perfect Day For Democracy
By Arundhati Roy -
Arundhati Roy
Arundhati Roy
Wasn’t it? Yesterday I mean. Spring announced itself in Delhi. The sun was out, and the Law took its Course. Just before breakfast, Afzal Guru, prime accused in the 2001 Parliament Attack was secretly hanged, and his body was interred in Tihar Jail. Was he buried next to Maqbool Butt? (The other Kashmiri who was hanged in Tihar in 1984. Kashmiris will mark that anniversary tomorrow.) Afzal’s wife and son were not informed. “The Authorities intimated the family through Speed Post and Registered Post,” the Home Secretary told the press, “the Director General of J&K Police has been told to check whether they got it or not.” No big deal, they’re only the family of a Kashmiri terrorist.
Read more in the Hindu
The evidence of mis-trial and justice denied as pointed out by Arundati Roy will weigh heavily on the Indian conscience. India the land of Mahatma and a bastian of democracy can ill afford to make such glaring errors when it comes to the death sentence. Benefit of doubt, a fair trial and opportunity of defence must be afforded to the accused. The question marks will remain although the deed is done. Justice not seen to be done.
Safa - February 10, 2013
12:14 am
India needs to go beyond that. Capital punishment itself is fundamentally inhumane. Nobody, including the GOI has the right to take a human life. Not even of a Kashmiri terrorist. Arundathi Roy is a true daughter of Mahatma Gandhi’s India.
Ben Hurling - February 11, 2013
9:13 pm
Arundhati Roy, like others in the Indian luny left (Sarmila Bose etc), are not representative of constituencies in their country but are implants by the west, recipients of the Booker Prize and felicitated in academic circles in the west. What individuals like these do is to promote a western view point given geostrategic considerations internationally but one that would ultimately hurt the progressive cause in Asia.
These self-styled human rights spokespersons criticized the Rwandan authorities for the genocide trials against Hutu extremists, the Cambodian genocide trials against the Khmer Rouge activists, the Bangladesh genocide trails against pro-Pakistan elements as judicially flawed. Yet, the west has not exactly been lily white (pardon the pun) given Guantanamo and it turning the otherway when the genocides in Rwanda, Cambodia and even East Timor occurred.
Yes, the likes of Arundhati Roy will criticize US actions but that is a smokescreen for her real role in deconstructing India.
Afzal Guru had provided the logistical leadership for the attack on the Indian parliament, which if successful, would have decimated as significant section of the Indian leadership and would have led to war with Pakistan. He deserved to die.
So how does this critique of Arundhati Roy impact on Sri Lanka? Any real progressive movement targeted at Rajapakse has to be indigenous, not sponsored by the West, not led by diaspora Tamils and not financed externally. We need authentic domestic intelligentsia, not a western financed NGO activism. It is only then that it will be successful, not otherwise.
Raja - February 10, 2013
2:38 am
Raja,
You seem to know exactly who is working for the West. Exactly what is your source? Or are you an agent of the West yourself with access to insider info?
Ben Hurling - February 11, 2013
9:19 pm
There seems to be a steady process of devaluation of human lives in the South Asian region, where some people feel empowered to stand in judgment about others’ fate, as if they were their mere chattels…
Lasantha Pethiyagoda - February 10, 2013
4:28 am
South Asia reminds us, more often than not, that hell is a place on earth.
Ben Hurling - February 11, 2013
9:20 pm