The verbal as well as physical brush witnessed in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly on September 29 last year over the issue of granting clemency to Parliament attack convict Muhammad Afzal Guru or sending him to gallows was replicated on the floor of the House on Monday leading to forcible eviction of lone Independent member Sheikh Abdur Rashid by marshals.
The pandemonium broke out soon after Mr Rashid raised the issue and while referring to a recent statement by Union minister Farooq Abdullah that since Guru had worked against the country, he must pay the price criticised him saying he had only betrayed the Kashmiri sentiment. The Independent MLA was also angry over the Speaker having disallowed his resolution seeking clemency for Guru for discussion.
Mr Abdullah had in reply to a question on his National Conference’s stand on the apprehension that Guru’s hanging could create a law and order problem in Jammu and Kashmir told reporters in Jammu on Saturday “I as an Indian feel that anybody who worked against the country must pay the price.”
Joining the issue with Mr Abdullah, Mr Rashid termed his remarks as “insensitive and irrational” and said “The National Conference president pretends to be too much concerned about law and justice. If he is sincere about his self-proclaimed standards of law and justice, let him use his position as Union cabinet minister and get (former Army major) Avatar Singh, the murderer of (lawyer and human rights activist) Jaleel Andrabi, arrested.”