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Srinagar:
Jammu and Kashmir was tense but calm Saturday as the news of Afzal
Guru's hanging in Delhi's Tihar Jail spread. Authorities clamped a
curfew in all major cities and towns of the Kashmir Valley as
police and paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in
full battle gear fanned out to pre-empt protests.
Local cable operators have been told to suspend their operations
immediately, sources here said.
Union Home Secretary R.K. Singh told mediapersons in Delhi that
Afzal Guru had been hanged in Tihar Jail at 8 a.m. Saturday after
President Pranab Mukherjee rejected his mercy petition.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, state Junior
Minister for Home Sajad Kichloo and J&K Director General of Police
Ashok Prasad flew into Srinagar from Jammu Saturday morning to
supervise the law and order situation.
Mirwaiz Umer Farooq's moderate Hurriyat group announced a four-day
mourning on Afzal Guru's hanging.
"We have announced four days of mourning on Afzal Guru's hanging.
We demand that his body be handed over to his family immediately,"
Shahid-ul-Islam, secretary of the Mirwaiz, told IANS.
He said that the Mirwaiz is presently in Delhi and would be flying
back to Srinagar soon.
Senior hardline separatist leader and chairman of his Hurriyat
group Syed Ali Geelani is also in Delhi.
When IANS contacted Geelani's secretary Ayaz Akbar on phone, it
was informed that Akbar had been arrested.
Sources close to Geelani said he had also announced a three-day
mourning on Afzal Guru's hanging.
Another senior separatist leader, Muhammad Nayeem Khan, was
arrested Friday in connection with an FIR against him for issuing
a provocative statement in 2010.
Afzal Guru was from Doabgah (Seer) village on the outskirts of
north Kashmir's apple-rich town of Sopore, 52 km from Srinagar.
He is survived by his wife Tabassum and 14-year-old son Ghalib.
Afzal Guru was arrested after the Dec 13, 2001, terror attack on
parliament. He was convicted along with Shaukat Hussain, Afshan
Guru (Shaukat's wife) and Delhi University teacher S.A.R. Geelani
for being part of the plot.
The Supreme Court confirmed Afzal Guru's death sentence in 2004
while Shaukat Guru was released after he served his jail term.
Afshan Guru and S.A.R. Geelani were given benefit of doubt and
released by the Supreme Court.
Five heavily armed terrorists had attacked parliament Dec 13,
2001, while it was in session. All the five terrorists and nine
other people were killed in the attack, which had brought India
and Pakistan to the brink of war.
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