Srinagar, Feb 9: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Saturday said his government was not required to sign warrant of execution of the Parliament attack convict Muhammad Afzal Guru who was send to gallows by the government of India this morning at Tihar jail in New Delhi. However, Omar said he was informed about the decision by the Union Home Ministry last evening.
“I think it is important at this point that I clarify that unlike in the case of execution of Maqbool Bhat-  because there was no case against Afzal Guru in Jammu and Kashmir- the state government was not required to sign the warrant of execution of Afzal Guru,” Omar said addressing a hurriedly called press conference here this morning.
However Omar said he got a call from Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde on Friday at around 8 PM that Guru’s execution would be carried out this morning at 8 AM after completing all legal processes.
“We had made our concerns known to the government of India time and again about the possible ramifications and fallouts of the execution of Afzal Guru,” Omar said.
A resident of Doabgah in North Kashmir’s Sopore town, Guru was convicted by a trial court in 2002 for his role in the attack on Parliament in 2001 and in 2004 the Supreme Court upheld the trial court’s order. His mercy petition was rejected by President Pranab Mukherjee a few days ago.
Guru is survived by his wife Tabasum and 14-year old son Ghalib. The Chief Minister, mainstream parties and separatists had repeatedly stressed in the past that Guru’s execution could have serious political fallouts in Kashmir.
Fearing backlash of Guru’s execution, Omar said the state government, on the basis of assessment of the situation, has put restrictions and security forces have been mobilized in city and towns of Kashmir.
“The army has not been called out. We are containing and managing the situation with J&K police and paramilitary CRPF,” Omar said.
Appealing people to maintain calm, Omar said he hoped people of J&K, particularly Kashmir valley, at this point of time, would not allow situation to go out of hand.
“There is certain degree of anger as the result of this execution. I understand there are amongst us those that will like to exploit the situation for their personal or political interests…I have instructed and ordered security forces to deal with the situation with the maximum restrain possible,” Omar said.
Omar asked people to allow his government to get through this difficult period without resorting to any sort of violent protests, which would only make matters worse.

Lastupdate on : Sat, 9 Feb 2013 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 9 Feb 2013 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 10 Feb 2013 00:00:00 IST