Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir Assembly
will on September 28 debate and vote on a controversial
resolution demanding clemency for Parliament attack convict
Afzal Guru.
The resolution has been moved by Independent MLA Sheikh
Abdul Rashid seeking clemency for Guru who has been sentenced
to death for his involvement in the attack on Parliament in
December 2001.
Rashid submitted the resolution after Tamil Nadu Assembly
passed a resolution seeking clemency for three persons on
death row for their role in assassination of former Prime
Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
The Assembly Secretariat had received 39 resolutions from
the MLAs but the rules provide for discussion and voting on
only seven resolutions per session.
A draw of lots was conducted yesterday and the resolution
moved by Rashid was the second among those selected.
Both separatist and mainstream politicians in the Valley,
except the ruling coalition, have one way or the other
supported the demand for clemency to Guru while the political
parties in Jammu region have opposed the idea.
The PDP, led by former chief minister Mufti Mohammad
Sayeed and his daughter Mehbooba Mufti, have said Guru should
be spared the death penalty as hanging him can have negative
effects on the situation in Kashmir.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, September 18, 2011, 14:31