Exclusive - Did J&K Govt Refuse To Keep Guru In Srinagar Jail?

Afzal Guru had tried hard to be shifted to a Srinagar jail till the time the president disposed off his mercy petition, but was allegedly told by the Ministry of Home Affairs that J&K Government was unwilling to take him.

In a letter he wrote to Hurriyat G chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani in 2011, Guru said he had moved an application before Home Department requesting his transfer to Srinagar. “In 2009 I first wrote to Delhi Home Department for my transfer. But in its response the department has expressed its inability to do so,” Guru writes in the letter quoting also the Home Department notice no: F.9/51/2010/HG-3333, dated 01.07.2010.

“The department has explained that the J&K Government was not ready to keep me in Srinagar jail,” the letter reads.

At the same time, Guru also points to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s simultaneous statements to media, in which he has denied that the state government had received any such application from the home department. “Omar Abdullah Sahib has been telling newspapers that he has received no application for my shift to Srinagar”.

However, Guru had not lost hope, deciding to move another petition. “Another jail transfer petition which I prepared myself was sent by me soon after. But this too has been gathering dust for the past one year,” Guru writes. “In this petition, I have reminded Supreme Court that I have been sentenced to capital punishment, not the life sentence. So to keep me indefinitely in jail is illegal and unconstitutional. I would rather that either government act fast on court’s order and hang me or else shift me to Srinagar jail till the time the government takes a final decision about me”.

In the letter, Guru has also referred to apprehensions expressed by Omar to a national newspaper about his likely hanging. “I am unfazed. I have been praying to God for the past 18 days of holy Ramadhan that I should achieve martyrdom at the earliest. I long for a martyr’s death and hope God will enable me to be a part of the blessed community of martyrs,” the letter reads.