One of the key principles of democratic government is its commitment to equality and justice. Equality and justice are inseparable. But how shameful that the two were separated many times in India. Yetchest thumping of largest democracy continue to be heard. Justice can be achieved only when people are treated equally. The treatment received by Shaheed Afzal Guru and Yukub Memon as compared to the likes of Mayaben Kodnani and Babu Bajrangi and thousands of others involved in heinous crimes against Muslims stand testimony to type of Equality, Justice, Secularism and Democracy present in India. It is shame to hang people selectively.
Though terrorism has no place in humanity but terrorism is defined selectively across the world. Killings of innocents irrespective of caste, colour, religion or ethnicity etc is nothing but terrorism. However if I am not wrong no hangings in India have taken place so far when the victims of terror-ism were minorities. Is that what they call justice?
The serial bomb blasts that shattered Mumbai in March 12, 1993 and killed 257 innocent people happened in a context and that is the context of communalism and those who sparked communal riots in India by destroying a 400 years old edifice on December 6, 1992, instead of facing trials came to power. Though no one can defend the killings of innocent people in 1993 Mumbai blasts but one may ask Why those people resorted to such inhuman crime? Or what led to 1993 Mumbai blasts? This reflects that communal politics have corrupted the rational minds in India and fake na-tionalism and communalism has taken over humanity and justice and now to satisfy the collective conscience of the society the Indian state can engage in any inhumane act.
Injustice, inequality, bias and oppression are counterproductive and will only lead to more hatred and terrorism. Common people in India should understand that terrorism can never ever be defeated by just killing terrorists. Terrorism can only be defeated across the world by killing terrorist thought. Injustice, inequality, intolerance, oppression of minority and selective hanging, mockery of institutions of justice, law and order, suppression and occupation etc can only add to terrorist ideol-ogy.
The selective hanging of Yukub Memon was nothing but a betrayal to the Muslims of India who were promised justice and equality at the time of partition.
The message, loud and clear, with the hanging of Yukub Memon is that one can never trust Indian Justice System in which media carries the trials, politicians decide the verdict and factors like reli-gion, ethnicity and family association become the criteria for its delivery.
With the legal murder of Afzal Guru and Yukub Memon and with letting the likes of Babu Bajran-gi, Mayaben Kodnani and others escape the hangmans noose and enjoy freedom, the collective conscience of Indian society seem to have died a long time ago.
Imran Khan
Government Teacher
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