Former chief minister Farooq Abdullah on Friday said he would meet President A P J Abdul Kalam to seek pardon for Mohammad Afzal Guru, awarded the capitalpunishment in the 2001 Parliament attack case.
"I will personally meet the President and request him for clemency for Afzal," said Abdullah, a member of Rajya Sabha.
The chief patron of opposition National Conference told reporters here that as per media reports, Afzal appeared to be
innocent and he had not been given a chance to defend himself.
Abdullah said an all-party delegation led by Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad should meet Dr Kalam and seek pardon
for Afzal in view of public sentiments in the Valley.
He said the hanging of Afzal was likely to affect Indo-Pak relations. "Thank God, peace talks are going on between India and Pakistan. Relations between the two countries will be affected if Afzal was hanged," he said.
Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front chief Mohammad Yaseen Malik left for Delhi on Saturday to mobilise public opinion to save Afzal from the noose. Malik said he planned to mobilise intellectuals, lawyers, human rights activists and others for a campaign launched to save Afzal.
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