The Majlis Bachao Tahreek (MBT) has strongly opposed death sentence to Yakub Memon, one of the alleged conspirator of 1993 Mumbai blasts.
In a media statement, Amjed Ullah Khan said Yakub Memon returned to India and surrendered before the authorities to face trail in the blast case against the wishes of gangster Dawood Ibrahim and his brother Tiger Memon. Quoting some media reports, he said Tiger Memon had advised Yakub Memon not to return to India. A leading publication had quoted Tiger Memon of warning Yakub: “Tum Gandhiwadi ban ke ja rahe ho, lekin wahan atankwadi qarar kiye jaoge” (You are going as a Gandhian, but over there you will be labelled a terrorist).
MBT leader Amjed Ullah Khan said if Yakub Memon hangs, it would prove Tiger Memon right. Yakub Memon freed himself from being a prisoner of Pakistan’s ISI and D-Gang. But with his hanging, the Pakistan’s ISI will have the last laugh. It will discourage other criminals, wanted by India, in different cases from surrendering before the authorities. The officials, who investigated the case, have admitted that Yakub provided crucial evidence in the case. But he has not been given the benefit of becoming approvers in the case.
The MBT leader said that the Central Government should not vent its anger on Yakub Memon for its failure to bring back the other accused, including Dawood Ibrahim and Tiger Memon, in the case. Yakub Memon’s hanging would be remembered in history as an act of political cowardice, he said.
Amjed Ullah Khan said if hanging is the only option then the killers of Rajiv Gandhi and Beant Singh and demolishers of Babri Masjid should also be hanged. All criminals should be treated equally and they should not be discriminated on the basis of their religion. Rajiv Gandhi’s daughter Priyanka Gandhi even met her father’s assassin in jail. (INN)