Afzal Guru's execution: Saifuddin Soz sees rights violation in not informing family

NEW DELHI: J&K Pradesh Congress Committee chief Saifuddin Soz has criticised the Centre for keeping Afzal Guru's family in the dark about his execution on February 9.

Speaking exclusively to ET, Soz said it was violation of basic human rights that the family was not allowed a final meeting with Afzal and were not even informed before the hanging. 76-year-old Soz, Congress Rajya Sabha MP and a Cabinet minister in UPA-1, said he had met home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde thrice in the last week to convey his concerns and spell out the implications of the Centre's moves on the situation in J&K.

"I have met the home minister thrice, since Afzal was secretly executed in Tihar Jail. I strongly feel that Afzal's family should have been informed of the impending execution well in advance and the family should have been called to Delhi so that they could have met him one last time. His wife, Tabassum and his young son Ghalib had a right to meet him one last time. Not giving them this opportunity was a violation of human rights," Soz told ET. A source said Soz also pressed Shinde to consider the family's demand to return Afzal's body to them.

Soz, when asked, refused to confirm or deny the same. MHA officials have said that return of Afzal's body was unlikely as it would trigger massive unrest in J&K and the jail manual prohibits handing over a body which may become a rallying point for protests or demonstrations. Afzal's wife, Tabassum, has submitted a request saying she had 'full right' over her husband's body.

When asked that had the Centre deliberately avoided sending the information to the family about the impending hanging by the fastest means possible, Soz said: "This question you should the government. Can a speed post letter from Delhi reach Sopore in a day? I cannot say if the Centre had a deliberate design to delay this information from reaching the family...but a wife and a young son lost out on meeting Mohammad Afzal one last time and I strongly feel it was not correct at all," Soz told ET.

J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah has also forwarded to the home ministry the family's request for Afzal's body. "We have received the request from the J&K government for Afzal's body and have sent them an acknowledgment. The concerned jail and police authorities are considering the request but exhuming and returning Afzal's body is unlikely as this will trigger massive unrest in J&K...it is also against the jail manual to hand over a body which could become a rallying point for protests and demonstrations," a senior home ministry official said.

However, leaders from J&K, including those from Congress, are said to be arguing that refusal to hand over the body could lead to even more trouble in J&K as protesters would get an emotional cause.