'Did BJP not compromise with terrorists in 1999?'

NEW DELHI: Congress leader Digvijay Singh today stepped up attack on BJP following the execution of Afzal Guru, saying the opposition party had compromised with terrorists in the Kandahar plane hijack in 1999.

He also asked political parties not to politicise the issue of delay in the execution saying the government took the decision after going through all standard procedures.

"Has the BJP not compromised with terrorists? After the hijack of Indian Airlines plane to Kandahar, who released the dreaded terrorists?", Singh asked.

Rejecting charges that Congress was soft on terror, he said the party was one of the worst sufferers at the hands of terrorists as it had lost leaders like Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi to the menace.

Afzal Guru, Jaish-e-Mohammad militant convicted in the audacious attack on Parliament in 2001, was today hanged in Tihar Jail.

The mercy plea of 43-year-old Guru, who was sentenced to death in 2002 by a special court and later upheld by the Supreme Court in 2005, was rejected by President Pranab Mukherjee a few days back.