10-15-2006, 02:16 AM
<!--emo&:angry:--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/mad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='mad.gif' /><!--endemo--> NEW DELHI: Former Chief Minister of J&K National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah has warned that if Mohammed Afzal is hanged the judges who convicted and sentenced him could be murdered.
"Some crook will come and murder them," he said in an interview to the CNN-IBN programme Devil's Advocate. One of the consequences will be... we have paid the price of Maqbool Butt's hanging by the judge who was shot in Kashmir... let me be candid with you: Those judges will need to be protected like anything.
Last month a New Delhi court set October 20 as the date for the hanging of Kashmiri Mohammed Afzal, triggering violent protests in Indian Kashmir.
"You want to hang him? Go ahead and hang him ... this nation will go up in flames because the terrorists will do things which will destroy the relationship of the Hindus and Muslims here," Abdullah told CNN-IBN news channel.
"Kashmir will anyway go up in flames ... there will (also) be turmoil which India will have to face. I am telling you."
Abdullah, a senior Kashmiri politician whose pro-India National Conference party has often ruled the state, was speaking in an interview to be telecast on Sunday, excerpts of which were released by the channel on Saturday.
Afzal was sentenced to death for his role in the attack when five gunmen stormed the parliament complex.
The gunmen were all shot dead. Kashmiri leaders have said hanging Afzal would fuel a Muslim separatist revolt in Indian Kashmir that has killed more than 45,000 people since 1989.
"You will be making him a hero for centuries to come ...you are giving a massive weapon to the separatists in Jammu and Kashmir," Abdullah told CNN-IBN .
Abdullah said the hanging would damage the peace process and could result in Musharraf being thrown out of office by Pakistan Army.
Afzal's wife has asked President A P J Abdul Kalam for clemency for her husband.
It is not clear if the hanging will be carried out on the set date as the President considers the clemency plea.
"Some crook will come and murder them," he said in an interview to the CNN-IBN programme Devil's Advocate. One of the consequences will be... we have paid the price of Maqbool Butt's hanging by the judge who was shot in Kashmir... let me be candid with you: Those judges will need to be protected like anything.
Last month a New Delhi court set October 20 as the date for the hanging of Kashmiri Mohammed Afzal, triggering violent protests in Indian Kashmir.
"You want to hang him? Go ahead and hang him ... this nation will go up in flames because the terrorists will do things which will destroy the relationship of the Hindus and Muslims here," Abdullah told CNN-IBN news channel.
"Kashmir will anyway go up in flames ... there will (also) be turmoil which India will have to face. I am telling you."
Abdullah, a senior Kashmiri politician whose pro-India National Conference party has often ruled the state, was speaking in an interview to be telecast on Sunday, excerpts of which were released by the channel on Saturday.
Afzal was sentenced to death for his role in the attack when five gunmen stormed the parliament complex.
The gunmen were all shot dead. Kashmiri leaders have said hanging Afzal would fuel a Muslim separatist revolt in Indian Kashmir that has killed more than 45,000 people since 1989.
"You will be making him a hero for centuries to come ...you are giving a massive weapon to the separatists in Jammu and Kashmir," Abdullah told CNN-IBN .
Abdullah said the hanging would damage the peace process and could result in Musharraf being thrown out of office by Pakistan Army.
Afzal's wife has asked President A P J Abdul Kalam for clemency for her husband.
It is not clear if the hanging will be carried out on the set date as the President considers the clemency plea.