GNS RAJOURI

When the holy Quran was placed before Mohammed Maqbool Butt on the morning of February 11, 1984, he knew that death awaited him in the phansi kothi a few yards away. A high voltage bulb burning outside the grated doors of his solitary cell in the death row was indicative of the outside darkness. If he had had any hopes of living awhile yet, they were dashed by the presence of the” prison doctors. Jail superintendent, A.B. Shukla/had paid Butt a visit in the middle of the previous night. Shukla chatted with him for a long time but cautiously avoided any talk about the execution. “I will see you on Monday”, Butt’s counsel on record, the sallow-complexioned R.C. Pathak, had told him during a brief interview they were allowed on the evening of February 10. In answer, the condemned Kashmir Liberation Front leader, who was awarded the death sentence of the murder of a CID officer in 1966, had meaningfully remarked: “Do you think they will permit us a second meeting?” He was right! Butt was n