Indian families protest, demand militant's death
Source: Reuters
NEW DELHI, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Families of eight police and guards killed in the 2001 attack on India's parliament returned bravery medals on Wednesday in protest at delays in hanging a man found guilty of involvement in the incident. The protest came on the fifth anniversary of attack, which almost sparked a war between nuclear rivals India and Pakistan. The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also accused the government of intentionally delaying the execution of Mohammed Afzal as a deliberate move to appease India's 138 million Muslim minority. Afzal, a short, bespectacled Kashmiri in his late thirties, was sentenced to death by the Supreme Court in September for helping to organise the attack. He has appealed to the president for clemency. Home Minister Shivraj Patil brushed off the protests, telling the upper house of parliament that it normally took at least six or seven years to decide mercy petitions. Five gunmen stormed the legislature on Dec. 13, 2001, in an attack New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based militants. All five, as well as 10 others, were killed. The families of eight victims gathered at the Presidential Palace on Wednesday to return a framed painting of parliament containing the medals, saying they wanted justice for their murdered husbands and sons. "We did not order the execution of Afzal. It's the court that has ordered it. But this vile politics over his death sentence, which is being delayed, has led us to return these medals," Ganga Devi, widow of sub-inspector Nanak Chand, said, according to the PTI news agency. Afzal's sentence sparked violent protests in his native Kashmir and peaceful opposition from human rights activists. His execution was initially scheduled for Oct. 20. "Afzal should be hanged immediately," BJP's Deputy Leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra told parliament. "We demand that there should not be any further delay." On Tuesday, Booker Prize-winning author turned social activist Arundhati Roy called for a retrial for Afzal. "The courts have admitted that there have been instances of fabricated evidence, evidence that's been tampered with, phone records that are forged, seizure memos, arrest memos, material discrepancies," she said.
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