A HANGING THAT RAISED MANY QUESTIONS
Suddenly on the morning of this 9th February everyone came to know that Afzal Guru, sentenced to death for years in the 2001 parliament attack case, has been hanged secretly. He was 11 years in jail for 11 years and his petition for mercy before the president of this country was only rejected on 3rd February which was not even intimated to his family members. Protests immediately emerged from different secular, democratic individuals and human rights organizations and senior lawyers about the improper way the Indian state sentenced and after a long period of procrastination suddenly hanged him in secret. In all probability the government wanted it done without much prior publicity and noise. But there were other vocal sections, the communal-jingoist BJP, Bajrang Dal, Shiv Sena and numerous other organizations named differently but promoted by them who openly expressed their elation as they were repeatedly pressurizing the government for just this to be done. The officials and ministers of the government and almost all the established parliamentary political parties across the spectrum of course and even the 'communist' CPIM defended the action by saying that the law took its due course, the attack on the parliament was an attack on the seat of our democracy and Afzal had to pay for that.
But was it simply that? Does Afzal's hanging really mean justice and democracy has been defended? Or does it mean some ominous sign in India's already stunted democracy? The workers, peasants and common masses everyday encounter how flimsy and patchy this democracy is when on demanding even those rights as declared by the existing laws they face the ire of the governments. The common masses are repeatedly victimized and the state, controlled by the influence and money power of the capitalists and landlords, start repressions to crush their struggles using its police and administration. Now with Afzal's hanging a section of the middle class secular, democratic individuals, civil rights organizations and senior advocates and judges are apprehensive that it has brought forth another instance of assault on this half-baked democracy? Many from them have expressed concern that the manner, in which Afzal has been tried and hanged, points to a dangerous trend of the Indian state. The same prosecution lawyer who stood for the state to get Afzal's death sentence, Gopal Subramaniam questioned, why has he been hanged secretly without even informing and letting his family, his wife and child, to meet him before his death? According to him, no civilized society allows this to happen. The government also knows this and so, instead of justifying it, took refuge in the half-truth stating it was sent by speedpost, so late that it reached his family two days after his death not serving its purpose. Even the mercy petition placed before the President of India was rejected only on the 3rd of February and it was not intimated to his family members, which is mandatory obligation of the Government, thus depriving Afzal's family an opportunity to appeal before the court against the rejection. Although after 8 long years of the death sentence declared on him he had the constitutional right to such an appeal.
The trial also reeked of plenty of loopholes and preconceived bias against Afzal. One of the first things that the police did even before the trial started was arranging a "media confession" by Afzal implicating himself in the terror attack. The DCP, who was supervising the investigation, surprisingly expressed his ignorance about the media interview in front of the court. Even the Supreme Court set it aside observing "We are not prepared to attach any weight or credibility to the statements made in the course of such interview pre-arranged by the police. The police officials in their over- zealousness arranged for a media interview which has evoked serious comments from the counsel...." The Supreme Court declared that it could not "place reliance on this item of evidence on which the prosecution places heavy reliance". Then in the course of the trial five lawyers, at different times, declined to stand in defense of Afzal and one withdrew after proceeding for a short time "citing a curious reason" as observed by none other than the Supreme Court. One instead of defending him stated that Afzal wanted to die by some toxic injection and not by hanging which he was surprised to know only later from the media and expressed his complete denial. One lawyer he objected to was thrust upon him by the court as 'amicus curiae'---the friend of the court---who acts more in expediting the proceedings rather than defending properly the accused. All this happened in spite of the fact that Afzal himself never denied his tryst with militancy in Kashmir. Afzal surrendered after a brief involvement with a militant organization of Kashmir during the decade of 1990s when there was a wave of militant protests sweeping Kashmir against the government repressions and thousands of Kashmiri youth were drawn towards the militant movement. Then he wanted a normal life carrying on medical supplies business. He was constantly in contact and under surveillance of the police. But they in turn started regularly harassing and torturing him for extortion as he repeatedly stated. He did not fire a bullet in the 2001 parliament attack, neither was he present there at that time. He even admitted that unknowingly he was with some of the persons who later turned out to be part of the team of attackers on the parliament in Delhi. But that he had come to Delhi with some such persons on instructions of the infamous para-military Special Task Force of Kashmir was not probed. [ Afzal's Letter to Sushil Kumar, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court; His wife's Appeal published in The Asian Age, 4th November 2004 issue]. The actual truth could not come out. Before proper inquiry, in a sudden hurry his mouth has been shut forever. The Supreme Court upheld the death sentence declared by the High Court despite acknowledging the fact that there was no direct evidence of involvement of Afzal.
In fact many of those protesting Afzal's hanging going beyond their concerns of mere non-compliance of proper legal procedures could even recognize that it was not the court rooms that were deciding the conviction and punishment of Afzal. The police and media's penchant for instant media confessions by arrested "terrorists", who were many a time released after trial for want of sufficient evidence, has gone on multiplying in recent years. Afzal was also made to confess in the same way which the court ruled out. But by that time the police and media succeeded in spreading their not-yet-proved "breaking news" stories which settle down in the communally-tainted minds of the masses to be true. Even just after Afzal's hanging the media repeated the falsity--- "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". [PTI Feb 9, 2013, 03.53PM IST The Economic Times] even when the Supreme Court categorically stated that, "there is no evidence that he is a member of a terrorist gang or a terrorist organization". The lawyers sought for defence of Afzal also succumbed under the communal jingoist pressures from outside. N.D.Pancholi, one of the many protesting senior advocates and civil rights campaigner, said, "Afzal Guru was never given a fair trial and he was not represented by any lawyer of his choice because lawyers were not willing to take up his case. Even the most important witnesses were not cross examined". N.D.Pancholi said, "there were several questions about the way the entire investigation into the crime was carried out and how the accused were sought to be demonised via the electronic media even before the trial was started" "The media portrays anyone talking on behalf of Afzal Guru as anti-Indian as if patriotism is the monopoly of the national security experts, anchors of the corporate media and the Hindu Right alone".[Why Afzal Must Not Hang, 9th September, 2011 N D Pancholi]. Thus even before the court could prove the accusations on him, through its proper proceedings, the police, the media, the lawyers in fact the communally charged atmosphere in society made him appear to be the mastermind culprit. It has also been revealed in the final words of the Supreme Court "The incident, which resulted in heavy casualties, had shaken the entire nation and the collective conscience of the society will only be satisfied if the capital punishment is awarded to the offender." By the 'collective conscience of the society' does the court mean the consciousness of reactionary, aggressive nationalism preached by the organizations like the BJP, Shiv Sena, Bajrang Dal etc. who were repeatedly threatening the government that with "hang Afzal" like campaigns they will be spewing further their venom of communal brand of nationalism unless he is hanged without any further delay? These forces have all through the years repeatedly tried to impose the consciousness that only by the might of brutal force of the Indian state based on a corresponding aggressive hindutva nationalism the 'unity, integrity and sovereignty' of this country can be protected and for that the state must come down harder still be it on the minorities, the oppressed nationalities of the Kashmiris, the Manipuris, Nagas etc. Does the court take this to be the collective conscience of the society being more and more prominently displayed by the communal-nationalist forces, encouraged by the ruling class serving mainstream media and strengthened by the actions of the Indian state?
But as a result of these ruling class and Indian states' aggressive policies youths like Afzal are evolving out of the continuously smoldering cauldron that Kashmir is for years. Afzal's pleadings on the role of the armed forces in the Kashmir valley, his own experience, his wife's appeal stating that " Afzal and my story is the story of many Kashmiri couples"[ his wife's appeal, published The Asian Age] also reverberates in the reports recurrently coming from the valley. During the past 20 years in Kashmir apart from the bloody militant actions 70000 has been killed, 8000 missing, unknown 6000 put in graves, rapes and tortures have been repeatedly perpetrated by the forces of police and army. .[Alleged Perpetrators Stories of Impunity and Violence in Jammu and Kashmir, International People's Tribunal for Human Rights and Justice....and Association of Parents for Disappeared Persons]. What has been the role of the Indian state? The recent government appointed Group of Interlocutor's Report itself has repeatedly stated "A majority of the youth in the valley suffer from fear of victimization by both the security forces/police and separated groups" In the 176-page document they stated, "We were appointed at a time when the situation was highly inflamed, 104 young people had been tragically killed in clashes between stone-pelting protestors and police forces in the Kashmir valley." "More than 13000 people died during 1999-2002." According to this team the core issue of such a violent history that comprises "the aspiration of the people of Kashmir" is a complex mixture of desires for redressal of the past, including historical grievances and anger at daily life harassments combined with urges for the future". This refers to the controversial process of accession of Kashmir by the Indian state on 26th October 1947. The Indian government's sending of the Indian Army to Kashmir on request of the king of Kashmir, facing an attack of tribal invaders from Pakistan, was conditional and never permanent. The Interlocutors report also recognizes this stating "Indeed the government of India was party to the resolution of the U.N. Security Council that called for determining the will of the people of the state to arrive at a permanent political settlement of the issue." In fact the then Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru himself repeatedly stressed on this point that "we made a condition that the accession would have to be considered by the people of Kashmir later when peace and order were established. We were anxious not to finalise anything in a moment of crisis and without the fullest opportunity being given to the people of Kashmir to have their say. It was for them ultimately to decide.[WHO IS RESPONSIBLE? A talk broadcast from New Delhi, November 2, 1947].He made a similar statement in the Constituent Assembly (Legislative), New Delhi, on November 25, 1947. "Even at the moment of accession we went out of our way to make a unilateral declaration that we would abide by the will of the people of Kashmir as declared in a plebiscite or referendum." [A statement made in the Constituent Assembly (Legislative), New Delhi, March 5, 1948.] [www.liberalpartyofindia.org---Nehru's speeches on Kashmir]. Instead of letting the Kashmiris express their will a large number of Central laws and Articles of the Constitution of India has been imposed on Jammu and Kashmir since 1953. The Report further recognizes "Sheikh Abdullah's constitutionally controversial dismissal and arrest on 8th August 1953" adding "The sense of victimhood is articulated in the most intense emotional terms in the Kashmir valley. The reasons are all too compelling. Here for over six decades, people have experienced what in their eyes, constitute a systematic denial of their democratic rights. They have been witness to rigged elections, the dismissal of elected governments and installation of pliant ones, the arrests of their popular leaders, the choking of their dissenting voices through harsh laws, the detention of political prisoners without the due process of law; the failure to bring to book those guilty of violating human rights; and, not least, violence perpetrated by militants and by the security forces". The interlocutors had to talk of even scrapping of the draconian laws like the Disturbed Areas Act, the Public Safety Act, and the infamous AFSPA and encroachment upon the special status of Kashmir as one of the most important steps necessary to moderate the feelings of discrimination and repression of the Kashmiris. Union minister Jairam Ramesh during his recent visit has said "Spy agencies are dictating India's Kashmir policy and the Centre isn't sensitive enough to the aspirations of the state's people" [Hindustan Times April 08, 2013 Delhi]. But these have remained hollow phrases of the polities of India that has repeatedly been used to betray the masses. The fascist like brutal, oppressive force of communal-national-jingoism has been spread more and more by the hindutva forces. The Indian state has used this brutal force to oppress not only the Kashmiri nationalities, but also all other oppressed nationalities of India, including Naga, Mizo, Manipuri and such other oppressed nationalities of North East. In Kashmir against this the forces of blind militancy, often instigated and supported by Pakistan, has come to occupy, influence and attract the Kashmiri youth as the only alternative for retaliation. With both the Indian and Pakistani states forcibly occupying parts of Kashmir the competition for subjugation and oppression of the Kashmiri national aspiration has remained as an important bone of contention between the ruling classes of the two conflicting nations. Afzal has become another scapegoat in the midst of these conflicts. His extent of involvement if any, has neither been probed or proved beyond doubt. Rather his hurried and secret hanging has further raised the suspicion of foul-play. But even if he would have been involved would it be just to hang him? Blind outbursts of militancy will no doubt lead the Kashmiri masses to nowhere out of their oppression and destruction. But can the youths be just held responsible for such blind armed outbursts and wasting away of their lives without taking into consideration what for decades the Indian ruling class and its state have done to the Kashmiri masses? Can it be stopped in this way?
Of course remaining steeped in the prevailing communal-religious nationalism and taking sides on that basis the working-class and toiling masses will never be able to come out of this unending destructive cycle of aggression and oppression of the Indian state on one hand and the blind, violent destructions of the militants on the other; the minority-targeting communal nationalism of the hindutva forces and the "jihadists" spreading their venom on the other. Apart from the long history of betrayal of the Indian ruling classes on and the repeated use of force on the Kashmiris, the masses of the Indian heartland carries with them the communal legacies of Partition of 1947 and on top of it the costs of the Indian ruling classes recent overt and covert alliance with the U.S. imperialists, that serve their political hegemonistic interests in this part of Asia, its war-on-terror. It has further aroused more violent Islamist " jihadi" organizations and also militant hindutva counterparts. Many more such political and terror inciting dubious incidents are multiplying in the whole region and the communal fundamentalists are getting further opportunity to spread their influence are further making the common masses the victims. In fact the total description of the parliament attack as put forward by the government has been shown to be having a number of unanswered questions. Within days of the attack, the Special Cell of the Delhi police saidthe attack was led by a man called "Mohammad" who was also involved in the hijacking of flight IC-814 in 1998 only to be refuted later by the CBI.The entire attack was recorded live on CCTV. Two Congress party MPs, Kapil Sibal and Najma Heptullah, demanded in parliament that the CCTV recording be shown to the members. The then chief whip of the Congress party, Priyaranjan Dasmunshi, said, "I counted six men getting out of the car. But only five were killed. The closed circuit TV camera recording clearly showed the six men." The police said that there were only five people in the car? Who was the sixth person?Why was the CCTV recording not produced by the prosecution as evidence in the trial? Why was it not released for public viewing?[India's Shame, Arundhati Roy 2006]. Behind the Mumbai attack by Kasav and his team there has been much news of an American citizen David Headley--- a dubious agent involved with both the American and the Pakistani secret service. He even mixed with the famous film-maker Mahesh Bhatt's son to carry out studies of the targets in Mumbai prior to the attack. Now the American government did not hand him over to the Indian government in spite of repeated requests, neither hang him but kept him imprisoned keeping the full truth from being revealed. Further recent trails of involvement of violent hindutva organizations in Samjhauta train, and the Malegaon blasts are under the scanner. All these only kill, or maim and divide the masses in enmity and fratricidal destruction but the actual fact is rarely known. The communal polarization and repeated oppression and branding of minorities and oppressed nationalities as antinational enemies of the state is more and more engulfing the sub-continent.
Using such a situation the media, the state, the communal-nationalist forces are able to paint people like Afzal as masterminds of assaults on the so-called, fragmented Indian democracy while some isolated, secular constitutionalist, individuals or civil rights organizations have been trying in vain to raise some voice in protest. The workers, peasants and common toiling masses struggle for democracy is for a long time weak and disintegrated because of the defeat of the revolutionary struggle throughout the world. In the midst of that the rampant attacks of globalization-liberalisation has in the recent times started arousing the workers and peasants in some pockets. But the turmoil of communalism, predatory nationalism strengthened by the more and more authoritarian role of the state and the anti-democratic communalists are not only brutally oppressing the Kashmiris, Manipuris etc it is also shattering the efforts to reunite the masses and pulling them towards the dangerous, aggressive nationalism of the ruling class. Dangerous because it is veiling the exploitative, oppressive class rule of the capitalists and landlords and utilizing the blind frenzy in the guise of nationalism to oppress other sections of masses. Only a struggle for a real secular people's democracy and voluntary unity of the common toiling masses on the basis of equality can defeat these forces of the aggressive states and their ruling classes supported and pushed further by the communal fascist organizations. Only that can create the condition for advancement of the working-class struggle. Can the Indian working class and the millions of toiling masses liberate themselves from their slavery and exploitation remaining mum to such rampant oppression of aspirations of democracy of other sections of masses? Never. The working class as staunch fighters against all forms of communalism, national oppression and discrimination imbued with the intense urge for establishing a real people's democracy and then socialism can only lead such a struggle. But for that first of all the Indian working class, the real force of democracy in society, must be able to raise the voice, to start with, among all sections of the toiling masses to rise in protests against the Indian state's brutal use of force and suppression of the democratic aspirations of the people like the Kashmiri masses and the poisonous ideas of communal authoritarian rule propagated by various brands of communal organizations. Afzal's travesty of justice has been one such important moment to raise those protests strongly and express solidarity with the Kashmiri masses. Without the masses being awakened to such facts mere protests by secular individuals is bound to remain fruitless.
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