Afzal Guru Execution

Restrictions on the movement of Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq have been lifted after he filed a writ petition in the Jammu and Kashmir
High Court here against his house arrest.

The Tihar Jail cites security and sovereignty concerns while refusing to answer an RTI query on Afzal's stay, execution, burial, which also asked for copies of the communication between prison and home ministry dealing with his mercy petition.

Members of Opposition Peoples Democratic Party staged a walkout on the first day of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Council today demanding that Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru's body be returned.

A fortnight after Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru was executed, a letter he allegedly wrote three years ago justifying the attack and praying for martyrdom, has surfaced.
Toufiq Rashid reports.

The National Conference (NC) has accused the Centre of "betrayal" on the Afzal Guru hanging issue, but maintained that continuing in the Congress-led UPA was a political compulsion. HT reports.

Separatist JKLF chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik has said that it was very unfortunate that Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru's mercy petition was dismissed and he was hanged in secrecy.

Afzal Guru's family has still not received the last letter which he had written, addressed to his wife Tabassum, a few hours before his execution in Delhi's Tihar Jail Saturday, his family said.

The family of Parliament attack convict Mohammad Afzal Guru today said their only demand was that the Centre return his body to enable them to give him a proper burial.

Congress leader Digvijaya Singh today said that chief minister Omar Abdullah was "not challenging" the decision to hang Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru and felt that it was "not fair" if the last wish of the convict was not granted.

The govt will consider any request by the family of Afzal Guru to visit his grave inside the Tihar jail in Delhi where he was buried after his hanging on Saturday, Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde said today. Afzal's family gets govt's letter | Read letter | Afzal wrote letter to wife just before execution

BJP on Monday charged Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah with "provoking" the situation in Kashmir Valley and condemned his interview for having a "sympathetic chord" for Afzal Guru who was hanged last week for his role in the Parliament attack case.

With the Union home ministry rushing to execute Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, two central interlocutors appointed by the Manmohan Singh government at the peak of the 2010 street protests have warned that the hurried execution was going to widen the “trust deficit” between New Delhi and Srinagar, reports Aloke Tikku.

Though it doesn’t matter much at the diplomatic or international level, Pakistan could see an opportunity arising out of the hanging of Afzal Guru to stoke the flames in Jammu & Kashmir, New Delhi feels, Jayanth Jacob reports.

In 1988, Afzal Guru went to Pakistan for training in arms and ammunition, says Guru’s confessional statement that later became a bone of contention between the prosecution and defence lawyers on the issue of admissibility, Rajesh Ahuja reports.

Afzal Guru’s family is waiting for a response from government regarding their wish to perform his last rites, Toufiq Rashid reports.