I believe in capital punishment - so I have no qualms about hanging Mohd Afzal.  When this whole campaign for clemency to Afzal started, my immediate reaction was disgust.  If the court found him guilty and decided that it was the rarest of rare case were death penalty was warranted, then as far as I was concerned there was no debate.  All this nonsense of Kashmir will go up in flames and judges will be killed did not impress me.

Then I read this article by Shanthi Bhushan (I think I got the name right, he is a famous Supreme Court lawyer).  There was some mention about a novice being assigned to defend Mohd Afzal but as there is no doubt about guilt, the inexperience of the lawyer did not impress me as a reason for clemency.  Though there is a possibility that a more experienced lawyer may have been able to argue that this was not the rarest of rare case. 

But Mr Bhushan presented two arguments that had me stopped on my tracks. Firstly Mohd Afzal is not repentant - actually he is looking forward to becoming a martyr.  Mohd Afzal is a terrorist who believes in martyrdom - he is a jihadi who thinks that Allah has a special heaven created for him if he sacrifices his life.  So we may be playing into Afzal's hands by executing him.  Also, executing Afzal will not serve the most important function of the death penalty - it will not deter future terrorists.  Mohd Afzal and other jihadis like him who are prepared to die and who most of the time die in the hands of the police or the army are not going to be scared of death by hanging, which is probably a more glamourous way of attaining martyrdom.  Mr Bhushan's argument that executing jihadi terrorists who are prepared to die does not serve the interests of India has merits. 

The only argument I can think of against keeping Afzal alive is that if he is alive, then we will have another hijack aimed at his release.  If we kill him then at least a hijack or kidnapping will not happen.  Clemency for Afzal is a trick question - I sure dont know the answer.  I hope the President has the wisdom to find a solution that will serve the nation's best interest.