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”Please don't compare me with Sarabjit. The issues are separate. My sympathies are with him, but my fight is for the Kashmir conflict. Now, I am not even seeking any clemency and have no objection to the Government deciding my fate."
Last month Home Minister Shivraj Patil's controversial statement saying those demanding Afzal's hanging could not seek reprieve for Sarabjit drew considerable publicity.
"If you are asking for Afzal Guru's hanging, then how can you ask for pardon for Sarabjit Singh?" Patil had asked CNN-IBN.
Sarabjit has been held guilty for bombings in Lahore and Multan in 1990 that left 14 people dead. He was to be executed April 30. However, the intervention of the Indian government led to the execution being postponed by Pakistan.
Afzal, also known as Afzal Guru, was convicted of conspiracy in the December 2001 attack on Parliament that killed six security personnel and one civilian.
"I long for my eight-year-old son, Ghalib. In jail, it is not possible to meet them easily as intelligence officials unnecessarily harass my family and wife, Tabassum, when they come here," he remarked.
In jail, Afzal is reading Maulana Abul Kalam Azad’s book India Wins freedom that details events of the country's independence movement.
There is pressure to issue clemency to Afzal from political groups in Kashmir, who believe hanging Afzal would have negative effects on the peace process in Kashmir. Human rights activists, too, have demanded a reprieve, as they believe that the trial was flawed.
"I only asked for pardon to stop millions of Kashmiri people hitting the streets. If I am hanged, I would take it as a sacrifice towards the people of Kashmir," Afzal told IANS.

@By IBN News