Bollywood superstar Salman Khan urged India’s top court Sunday to spare the life of a convicted bomb plotter due to be hanged this week, declaring him innocent and sparking a political furore. The Supreme Court is expected on Monday to hear a last-ditch appeal from Yakub Memon, convicted of being a key plotter of a series of bomb blasts that killed hundreds in Mumbai two decades ago – the deadliest such attacks in India’s history. The court had last week rejected what was believed at the time to be a final appeal from Memon, paving the way for his execution on Thursday after more than two decades in jail. But his lawyers lodged the last-minute appeal, saying his execution date of July 30 had been set unlawfully back in April, before all legal avenues to appeal were exhausted. Khan, a hugely popular actor who was himself convicted in May of a deadly hit-and-run accident, described Memon, an accountant by profession, as innocent, sparking protests outside his house. The conviction, and impending execution, of Yakub Memon for being a prime accomplice in the deadly 1993 Mumbai blasts is another such instance, and notable Indian jurists, academics, politicians and celebrities have launched a popular campaign asking the government for clemency. The resulting reactions of various political parties reinforce how this conviction is a matter of policy, not legal principle.The alleged masterminds of the attack remain out of reach of the Indian authorities, and in the absence of any high-profile suspect, Yakub Memon, the brother of Ibrahim Memon, the prime suspect, has been singled out to face punishment. As the campaign in his favour points out, the case against him is based on weak and flimsy evidence. Out of the five confessional testimonies against him, four have been retracted. The time and place of his arrest seems to have been fabricated by the investigative authorities; Memon claims he surrendered himself voluntarily to clear his name and wash away the stigma attached to his family. Furthermore, a letter by B Raman, a former RAW officer involved in the case, also argues that Memon is being unfairly made the scapegoat. The crux of the issue is this: while Indian authorities steam forward with this execution, cases of terrorist attacks against Muslim targets – such as Melagaon, Modassa, Samjhauta Express and Ajmer Sharif – all languish. The authorities do little to prosecute suspects and actively interfere with investigations that do make some progress in the first place. In an atmosphere such as this it is not only highly hypocritical that Indian authorities criticize the Lakhvi trial in Pakistan and make it a major policy issue.
pk.shafaqna.com
