straight from the heart
this was prompted by the intensity of the comments on death penalty. unfortunately, the debate in the country has now taken an ugly turn. the communal angle to an otherwise social issue- what should be the reaction of a civilized society to crime?- has the roots of divisive politics. why can't we think from the heart? Afzal Guru may or may not be guilty- that is the job of the courts. but to give the death sentence is to drive home the point that india wants revenge- retribution for the symbolic attack on the parliament. what is needed is a clear signal, a bold political statement- forgive and move on. if one goes on extracting revenge for all the heinous crimes, there will be no looking forward to a better society. maybe it is easier said than done- we need to start somewhere.
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6 comments:
sir, this is a paragraph from Barkha Dutt's article on death penalty....
"........As we learn to build our lives in the shadow of violence, we may believe that the death sentence is too effete, too weak, too little, to take on an army of invisible killers. But you will hear the nervous laugh of a scared people, if you try and tell us that capital punishment should be scrapped because it’s an inhumane and twisted expression of justice.
The most specious argument made by the abolitionists is that life was created by a higher power, and so, the State has no right to take it away. Even before terrorism settled and made itself at home in our backyard, we empowered our State to go to war and kill if needed. Not just do we sanction it; we make heroes of the men who bring home the body bags of enemy soldiers. We believe territorial integrity is worthy enough to both die and kill for. Why would we respond differently to a terrorist who declares war directly on our people?........."
sir.. point taken.. but then again sir.. if india retorts wat u said then india is labeled as aoft state and all leaders come out saying that india needs to take a tough stand and not bow under pressure to human rights orgn and the likes..
tats wat hapened following the kandahar hijack incident.. we valued the human life than the nations security..
so as u said, if we were to forgive and move on, then the same would happen.. people would start calling india as a failin state which is decaying from inside...
any comments sir??
lzafeer
hi lzafeer, good to hear from you. my point is violence begets violence. i was watching a documentary 'who is afraid of Islam' and the point made by the journalist who wrote and made the same was- from palestine to iraq- you kill us we kill you. so, the circle of violence continues. regards naresh rao
Naresh can i have that docu? May be on Wednesday?
aye aye
i used to think dat death penalty was a gd means of forewarning ppl dat criminals wil b made to pay, but dat was only until i read 'the chamber' by john grisham....... it describes how d judicial procedures often run into yrs n finally wen d judgemen is passed, the supposed criminal is an aged person who would die within a few yrs anyway..... even in d case of afzal guru o saddam hussain wher d trial were relatively fast, death penalty cannot b justified bcos v ourselves as humans r bound to commit mistakes- some small n some bigger, but dat doesn give us d rite to take d life of another...some ppl i've been discussind issue wid even suggested cutting off their fingers o hands n leavin dem t repent.repentance cant b forced on any1, its somethin u have t find on ur own with time... besides,f death penalty actually worked, dere wudn b anymor rape o murder cases happenin today......... its clearly not an effective enuf deterent........
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