Expressing concern over the possible fallout of the Home Ministry's recommendation on Parliament attack convict Mohammad Afzal Guru's mercy plea,the PDP today urged the President to take a decision keeping in view the 'sensitive' situation in Jammu and Kashmir. The party's senior leadership today met here under the chairmanship of the party patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and decided to appeal the President to take into consideration the highly sensitive situation in J&K which is trying to come to terms with huge material and humanitarian loss that it has suffered over the past two decades, a PDP spokesman said. He said the PDP feels that Guru's is a fit case for displaying compassion in broader national interest even as the party strongly condemns terrorism in any form. The party expects the President to take into consideration the universal disapproval of death penalty and also the highly fragile situation in the state, the PDP spokesman said. He said carrying out the death sentence could impede the efforts at finding a way out of the political and humanitarian crisis that the state has been facing. The government is understood to have recommended to the President rejection of the clemency petition of Parliament attack convict Guru. The state and nation of India have to rise above the individual acts of crime,howsoever serious and condemnable they may be,and respond to the larger situation in J&K in accordance with our national ethos,understanding and reconciliation, the party spokesman said. He said the punishment,if carried out,would only add to the trust deficit between Jammu and Kashmir and rest of the country.
