New Delhi: The Indian Government said today  (Dec 12, 2006)it needed more time to decide on the mercy petition of Mohammed Afzal, sentenced to death for the 2001 attack on parliament, even as the opposition walked out of the Lok Sabha protesting against the delay in his execution.

Speaking in the house a day ahead of the fifth anniversary of terror attack, Home Minister Shivraj Patil said, "There are many formalities involved in this. The government does not want to take a hasty decision. The past records also show that the decision on clemency petitions have always been a long process."

He was responding to opposition leader L.K. Advani's demand to take a decision on Afzal before Dec 13 as families of the security personnel killed in the Dec 13 attack have asked the government to reject the clemency petition before the anniversary date.

Patil promptly accused the opposition of "whipping up the emotions of the family members" of those who died protecting the parliament building.

The families of the security personnel killed in the 2001 parliament attack have said nothing short of Afzal's hanging would be acceptable to them.

The issue created acrimony in the Lok Sabha, which otherwise functioned smoothly Tuesday after continuous disruption in the last few days by the opposition on various issues.

After Advani raised the issue in zero hour, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi said the opposition leader should apologize for not protecting the parliament building in 2001. Advani was then the home minister.

This provoked BJP members who rose from their seats to shout at the treasury benches.

Explaining the procedures for examining a clemency petition, Patil said the government had to seek the state government's views before it is passed on to the law ministry.

"If the decision of the government is not in conformity with the law, the Supreme Court can again interfere," Patil pointed out. 

He recollected that the government took five years to examine the clemency petition of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi assassins.

Patil's remarks that some people have been trying to whip up the emotions of the family members of the slain security personnel irked BJP members, and they walked out of the house along with the Shiv Sena MPs.

"Please do not try to divide the country over this issue," Patil pleaded as the MPs were going out.

Afzal was convicted for his role in helping and sheltering five terrorists who attacked parliament Dec 13, 2001 in which 13 people, including all five attackers, were killed.

The Indian government said all five attackers were Pakistanis. Pakistan denied the charge and refused to accept their bodies, which were buried in the heart of New Delhi.