Let law take its course: Omar on Afzal

Srinagar: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday reiterated urge to allow justice to take its own course on Afzal Guru, the Baramulla man convicted in Parliament attack.

“Let the natural course of justice take its own course,” Chief Minister told reporters on sidelines of a function in Jammu.

Guru was sent to the death row in 2002. His sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court a year later. The sentence was scheduled to be carried out on Oct 20, 2006, but his execution was stayed after his wife sought clemency from the President of India. The petition is 28th in the list of mercy applications before Indian President Pratibha Patil.

To a query on boycott appeal to the ensuing Pachayat elections, the Chief Minister said he can’t force anyone to vote. However, he said that the elections were necessary to for governance at village level. Omar was speaking to media men on sidelines a function after flagging off a contingent of over 400 youth of state from Jammu for a tour to various states of the India under J&K Youth Exchange Programme – 2010 organized by Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS).

Speaking at the function, organized at Genera Zorawar Singh Auditorium in Jammu, the Chief Minister described youth participating in the exchange programme as ambassadors of the State and expressed confidence that they would depict the rich cultural ethos, communal amity and brotherhood before the people in various States they are visiting.

“There are lots of misgivings about Jammu and Kashmir in the minds of people outside the State and same is the case here”, he said adding that such exchanges would remove these reservations and bring people closer to each other”, he said.