Srinagar, Sep 1 (IANS) Independent legislator Engineer Rashid Thursday said he has submitted a resolution to Jammu and Kashmir assembly speaker seeking clemency for parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.
Speaking to IANS here, Rashid, who won the 2008 legislative assembly polls from north Kashmir’s Langate constituency, said: ‘The session of the state legislative assembly is scheduled for Sep 26. I have already submitted a resolution to the honourable speaker of the assembly, seeking clemency for Afzal Guru.’
Asked whether his decision was influenced by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s tweet on the subject, Rashid said: ‘Omar Abdullah has already said in one of his tweets that my resolution had been submitted prior to his tweet on the subject.
‘I think he has already clarified the position in this regard and I need not make any further comment on it,’ he added.
In a post on micro blogging site Twitter Wednesday, Omar Abdullah wondered whether a resolution in the state assembly on Afzal Guru, on the lines of the one passed by Tamil Nadu assembly seeking clemency for three convicts in the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, would have attracted a similar muted response.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has criticized Omar Abdullah, saying he is trying to appease separatists through his comment.
Once the resolution submitted by the independent legislator comes up for vote, it would be very difficult for the ruling National Conference (NC), which has 28 members in the 87-member assembly, to stay away from voting on the controversial subject.
Many NC leaders have said that if Afzal Guru is hanged, it would adversely impact the fragile peace prevailing in the Valley.
