TNI Bureau: The Congress-led UPA Government struck at the right time. In a significant development, Parliament Attack convict Afzal Guru was hanged at 8 AM this morning in a secret operation at the Tihar Jail. As a precaution, curfew has been imposed in Kashmir Valley and high alert has been issued across Delhi and other metros.
President Pranab Mukherjee had rejected the mercy petition of Afzal Guru on Feb 3, Home Secretary revealed. The decision to hang Afzal Guru was taken at the highest level while J&K CM Omar Abdullah was kept in the loop. Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde took the decision to hang Afzal on February 9. He also deserves the credit for ordering hanging of 26/11 convict Ajmal Amir Kasab earlier.
Support Independent Journalism? Keep us live.
Afzal Guru was the key conspirator in the 2001 Parliament Attack case, which left nine people dead when five terrorists carried out an attack on the Indian Parliament on December 13, 2001. All terrorists were gunned down and no lawmakers were injured.
The UPA Government delayed the hanging of Afzal Guru for a long time, fearing tension and clashes in Kashmir and other parts of the country. The BJP and other political parties had been critical of the government and accused the Congress of playing vote bank politics.
Meanwhile, the BJP has welcomed the development, but said it came very late. Afzal aguru was buried inside Tihar Jail. Curfew and Section 144 have been imposed in parts of Jammu & Kashmir. In addition, restrictions have been put on Cable TV services and Mobile and Internet to prevent the spread of hatred.