Srinagar, August 31: “If J and K assembly had passed a resolution similar to the Tamil Nadu one for Afzal Guru, would the reaction have been as muted? I think not,” chief minister Omar Abdullah said on Wednesday.
Reacting to the Tamil Nadu assembly resolution’s on former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s killers, Omar Abdullah moaned that the sentiments of the people in Kashmir were unfairly treated outside the state.
In the Kashmir Valley, the death sentence awarded to Afzal Guru for the 2001 Parliament attack has been a sensitive one.
The state government apprehends widespread unrest if he is hanged.
The home ministry has sent the file on Guru’s mercy petition to President Pratibha Patil.
Omar Abdullah does not favour death penalty for any convict, and he would not like someone whose hanging could derail peace in the state to be executed.
The September 9 hanging of the three men sentenced to death for conspiring to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi was stayed for eight weeks by the Madras high court on Tuesday.
The Tamil Nadu assembly also passed a resolution asking the President to review their mercy petitions.
Slamming the Jammu and Kashmir chief minister’s remarks, BJP said that the Omar Abdullah’s reaction was “shocking and unfortunate”.
Senior BJP leader Balbir Punj said, “This is wrong. BJP’s stand has always been clear. Omar Abdullah is only aggravating the situation. If there was a wrong precedence from the Tamil Nadu government, it does not mean the other governments should also react in a similar manner.”