Jammu: Differences within Jammu and Kashmir's ruling Congress party came out in the open on Tuesday when Mangat Ram Sharma, a senior minister in Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad's government, said seeking clemency for Afzal Guru, facing execution for the Parliament attack, was "unfair in democracy".
"He (Afzal) is the conspirator for attacking the highest seat of our democracy and I feel very sad that some political leaders are making an issue out of it," Sharma, the health and medical education minister, said.
Perpetrators of the violence should not be spared, he said. Sharma said he did not agree with statements attributed to Chief Minister Azad, seeking clemency for Guru.
"If Azad has said this, I do not agree. Any person who loves the nation will not agree with any such statement," he said.
To a question about the issue being initially taken up by their alliance partner PDP, Sharma shot back, "PDP or no PDP, if they say something anti-national, we are not going to side with it like mute spectators.
"Perpetrators of violence and killers of innocents should not be spared at any cost. All of them should be hanged," Sharma told reporters on the sidelines of a function.
Terming the protests in the Kashmir Valley in support of Guru as "ridiculous", Sharma said the law should be allowed to take its course.
Meanwhile, Azad refused to comment on the issue when questioned by reporters at the end of Dessehra celebrations at the parade ground here last night.
"I have nothing to say on this subject," Azad said when asked whether he stood by his statement on Guru.
Comments
0 comment