Afzal plea deferred for Games?

May 21, 2010 - Syed Asim Ali |

New Delhi

It appears that the Commonwealth Games weighed heavily on the city government which wanted to delay the mercy petition plea of the Parliament attack convict, Afzal Guru, till the mega sporting event was over. Delhi government sources said, they did not want to take any chance on the smooth organisation of the Commonwealth Games, scheduled for October 2010.

“Though all steps are been taken for safe Commonwealth Games, which is the biggest show piece event, not only for the Delhi government, but also for the country. Though there was no special intelligence input about the consequences in the aftermath of the execution of Afzal Guru, the city government wanted to play safe and not to take any risk,” stated the highly-placed source, who added that the file would have been cleared just after the Games.
Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikhsit recently said that the Commonwealth Games could be a soft target for the terrorists. “The city government wants to make sure that there is peace in the city for the Commonwealth Games and the officials are not taking any chances,? said a Delhi government official. The official added that it is a top priority that there is no presence of any militant activity in the city after the decision on Afzal is taken. “The first reason for the delay was the Jammu and Kashmir elections and after that the view in the city government was that to further wait for the games to be over,” said Delhi government officials.
Meanwhile, sources said that the Lt. Governor Tajender Khanna is carefully studying the mercy petition plea and he has also understood to be going through the 75-page Supreme Court verdict which awarded the death sentence to Afzal Guru in the 2001, Parliament attack case.
The Delhi government has earlier said that they are firm on the capital punishment for Afzal Guru. The city government has returned his mercy petition file to the Lt. Governor’s office. The Delhi government reiterated its support for the Supreme Court verdict that Afzal Guru should be sentenced to death.

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