Decision on Afzal Guru pending with Delhi govt: Patil

Home Minister Shivraj Patil has said that Guru’s mercy petition is pending with Delhi Government.

Facing criticism from BJP over the delay in the execution of Parliament attack case convict Afzal Guru, Home Minister Shivraj Patil has said that Guru’s mercy petition is pending with Delhi Government and it may have “some reasons” in delaying the decision.

“It is not pending with me. It is pending with the Delhi Government. I am not the boss of the elected Government of Delhi. We are waiting for their reply,” he said.

He agreed when suggested that Delhi government “must be having some reason” to delay the decision.

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On controlling terrorism in the country, he said the police forces here were not trained to fight a battle against terrorist and they need to be trained for it.

“The police-population ratio is adverse and we have to correct it. Our police are trained to control mob, traffic, to investigate, but not to fight a battle against terrorist. We have to train them for that. Then you need to give them the equipment they require,” he said.

Patil noted that in foreign countries, it is the defence forces that are fighting against terrorism.

Insisting that existing laws were enough to control terrorist activities and to protect human rights, he said, “there are two things that we have to do: one is to see that the terrorist activities or the criminal activities are controlled and the other thing is to see that the innocent people are not put into difficulty and their human rights are protected. We should strike a balance between the two.”