OPINION: Delhi High Court blast: HuJI and Beyond

Of all the crimes, the most vicious, nasty, brute and barbaric is the consuming of life of an innocent soul. Consumption of an innocent life is not an act touching a particular individual but it is an offense against the whole of humankind. Murder of an individual does not only take her or his life, but has many social implications. The victim is someone’s father, mother, brother, sister, son or daughter. And the hopes of all them are snuffed out, they suffer for their whole lives.

The Delhi High Court blast is a good example of this brutality, savagery and barbarism against the whole of humankind. Not only those who carried out the mission need to be brought to justice but all those who aided in carrying out the act deserve capital punishment. It is necessary that the investigating agencies necessitate carry out a quick and thorough probe, looking at it from all angles.

After the blast, the initial news and reports hinted at the involvement of Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI) a global “terrorist” organization behind the act. It was they who had claimed responsibility for the blast and had demanded the repeal of Afzal Guru’s hanging, the man who was “convicted” for the attack on the parliament in 2001.

There are possibilities that some militant organizations may bid for repealing Afzal’s hanging, but it is also a fact that Afzal’s hanging can fuel militant organizations, particularly in the Indian administered and the Pakistan administered Kashmir. In case Afzal is hanged “militant organizations” and other non-state agents can exploit the situation and try to win the sympathy of the people. This may also give “separatists” reason to mobilize the masses, and this time perhaps the prime minister’s request to “give peace a chance” may not work. There is a chance that some of the militant organizations, implicitly or explicitly, maybe favoring the hanging of Afzal Guru and thus might have carried out the mission. The hanging of Afzal Guru certainly will bring great catastrophes with it, particularly in Kashmir. This may give militants enough ground to win the sympathy of the masses.

HuJI, which operates globally and is a recognized “terrorist” organization definitely would have a strong intelligentsia and might be sensing an aftermath of operations. How can one believe that HuJI will send an email to give the police a hold of its operatives?

I do not out rightly negate the involvement of HuJI in the blast. But I am trying to go beyond the HuJI angle in the blast and I am trying to analyze all other possible angles by considering other groups.

Every act has its own context and is closely related with it. So before proceeding for any conclusion one must understand the context. Context and text have a close relationship; for convenience of readers let me in brief define the term text. Text is not limited to any biblical or written word. It can be anything like a symbol, action and so on, which can be given meaning or can be interpreted.

Just a few days back Pritibah Patil, the President of India rejected the mercy petition of the three convicted in the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. The date of 9 September, 2011 was fixed for execution. Fixation of day of execution activated many people. There was also strong pressure on the government from human rights activists to postpone the hanging and even to abolish capital punishment.

In protest, even a 23-year-old young girl set herself ablaze at the Commissioner of Revenue’s office to have the decision of their execution revoked.

All this created pressure on the Tamil Nadu government. Political market in TN become hot, political parties started to score politically with the issue. It was on 22 August that the TN legislative assembly passed a resolution to reconsider the mercy plea of Rajiv Gandhi’s killers facing the death sentence. The passage of the resolution by the TN assembly perked up the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah, who tweeted to score politically and repair his tarnished image in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, especially in Kashmir.

Omar Abdullah tweeted: “If Jammu and Kashmir assembly had passed a similar resolution for Afzal Guru, would the action have been as muted? I think not.”

This tweet of the Chief Minister was having an aversion in various circles in India particularly to those who advocate immediate hanging of Afzal Guru. It was under these circumstances that Engineer Rashid, an independent legislative member of the Jammu and Kashmir legislative assembly sought the Jammu and Kashmir assembly speaker’s permission for tabling a resolution seeking pardon for Afzal Guru.

These events execrated many circles across India. These developments around led the BJP and other pseudo-secular political parties come together to pressurize the government on Afzal Guru’s case. They did not to plead for clemency but for coldness with Afzal.

Groups like RSS, Bajrandal and Shivsena, who have a Hindutva agenda threatened the government of dire consequences if there was any delay in the lynching of Afzal Guru. These are the same groups and organizations who are involved in many terrorist activities like Malegaon blasts, Samjhota Express blasts and so on. Negating the possibility of their hand in the blasts may be misleading and shoddy.

One must bear in mind, after the Malegaon blast in 2006, the Mecca Masjid bombing in Hyderabad, the Samjhota Express bombing and the Ajmer Dargah blast, initially the primary suspect of the bombing were considered to be Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), or other Pakistan based terror groups. However, later it was found that Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), RSS and some other radical Hindu groups were behind these blasts.

I do not rebuff a possible connection of HuJI and other “Islamic” organizations in the Delhi High Court bomb blast. I only mean to say that an early conclusion may mislead the investigation.

It is also imperative for the government of India to imagine how Afzal Guru’s hanging can bring many repercussions. It is also matter of contemplation how the hanging of Afzal Guru will boost and advance the anti-state agents.

Those who carried out the mission are barbaric, savage and the enemies of humankind, and have no berth in Islam. Islam is categorical and clear on these issues:

On that account We ordained for the Children of Isra`il that if any one slew a person – unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land – it would be as if he slew the whole humanity: and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the whole humanity. Then although there came to them Our messengers with clear (guidance), yet, even after that, many of them continued to commit excesses in the land. — Holy Quran (5:32)

[Fayaz Ahmad Bhat is a contributing writer and a PhD scholar in the Department of Sociology. He can be reached via email at: [email protected].]

[Views expressed herein are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Jamia Journal’s editorial policy]