Afzal Guru's hanging: Political parties say justice done

Political parties today said justice has been done with the execution of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru even as BJP questioned the delay in carrying out the death sentence.

Both Congress and the BJP said the hanging of Guru, a Jaish-e-Mohammed militant, would send a message to terror outfits that India would not tolerate terrorism.

"The law has taken its course. The Parliament attack convict has been hanged," Congress spokesman Rashid Alvi said reacting to the execution of Guru in Tihar Jail here.

"Justice has been done," another Congress spokesman Sandeep Dikshit said.

Questioning the delay in Guru's hanging, BJP said it should have happened much earlier after the confirmation of the capital punishment by the Supreme Court in 2005.

"The capital punishment awarded to Afzal Guru today is a part of legal and judicial process which ought to have taken place much earlier. The attack on the Indian Parliament happened in 2001, that is 12 years ago, which was an attack on India.

"Why this sort of delay inspite of overpowering desire of the people of the country that those who are accused of such a heinous offence ought to be given the capital punishment as affirmed by the highest court of the land. This question would remain important and an answer would have to be found out," BJP Chief Spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters here.

In Chennai, Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari said the decision to hang Guru was not based on political considerations.

"The process of Article 72 unfolded and once the mercy petition was rejected by the president (Pranab Mukherjee) the law took its own course," Tewari told a press conference.

He was referring to the article of the constitution under which a President can grant pardon or commute the sentence of any convict.

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