Srinagar, Feb 9: Family members of Muhammad Afzal Guru have asked Government of India to hand over his body to them for burial. The family said they came to know about Guru’s hanging through news channels and social media sites, and government of India did not inform them.
“We came to know about it (hanging) through media. We didn’t receive any information or any letter from the government of India,” said Guru’s elder brother Aijaz Guru, rejecting government of India’s claims that the family was informed about it. “We will lodge protest in Lal Chowk if the body is not returned to us. We want to give him a decent burial.”
Aijaz said the family knows that Guru became victim of vote bank politics. “It is our right that we should be handed over his body for performing his last rites,” Aijaz said.
Guru’s cousin, Yasin Guru seconded Aijaz: “They (government of India) are telling white lies. We came to know through our friends and relatives about the Facebook updates that the government was likely to hang Afzal Guru. We were shocked,” said, Yasin.
“No one informed us that Afzal will be hanged. Even brutal regimes will not act this way.”
Yasin said Guru was not given a fair trial and now he was hanged without informing his family. “They killed our brother and now we have been kept hostage in our house,” Yasin said.
A resident of Jageer, Doabgah in North Kashmir’s Sopore town, Guru was awarded death sentence by a trial court in 2002 which was later upheld by the Supreme Court in 2004. Afzal is survived by his wife Tabbasum and son Ghalib.
In September 2012, Afzal’s mother Ayesha Begum, died of a stomach ailment. Habibullah Guru, his father, died about 35 years ago. Aijaz and Hilal are Guru’s two brothers.
Last time Ghalib, Tabassum and her father met Afzal in Tihar in August and the family members had a conversation for more than an hour. “He was fine but he had apprehensions that government will not let him free,” Tabassum told reporters at Jageer Doabgah.
Pressing for the return of Guru’s body, his family said they have written to Deputy Commissioner Baramulla, Khawaja Ghulam Ahmad this afternoon seeking state government should take up the matter with the authorities concerned at New Delhi.
“Please convey our appeal and heartfelt request to the Tihar Jail Authorities (Delhi) to return the body of our kin Muhammad Afzal Guru for carrying out his last rites. Every human being has his/her birth right to go through his religion and faith for his disposal. This only can bring religious serenity and divine tranquility to us, especially to his wife and lone child,” the letter reads.
The copy of the letter has been, according to the family, sent to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah as well.
Aijaz said they were planning to travel to New Delhi to seek return of Guru’s body and they were in touch with some lawyers in Delhi in this connection.
“The irony is that we are not allowed to move out of our house. Strict restrictions have been imposed on our movement,” he said. The DC Baramulla however denied having received any communication from the Guru Family.

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