Omar Abdullah questions secret execution of Afzal Guru

SRINAGAR: Jammu & Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah has questioned the secrecy surrounding the execution of Parliament attack accused Afzal Guru, arguing that it may fuel a feeling of alienation among the youth even as analysts ruled out a fresh wave of militancy in the valley.


Omar Abdullah, who heads the coalition government in partnership with the Congress in the state, appeared to be distancing himself from the decision of the Centre and attempting to blunt the claims of the opposition PDP.

"It (a boost to militancy) is ruled out in the given situation," said political scientist Gull Wani, but added, "The only impact is the Himalayan addition to the historic gulf that existed between Delhi and Srinagar. It will impede the process of re-engaging youth."

Curfew was strictly imposed in the valley, after the hanging of the Baramulla-born Guru on Saturday morning, and the media was gagged. Srinagar lacks access to news channels on cable and internet services, and the city magistrate had formally issued orders not to print newspapers.

Ghulam Nabi Rattanpuri, a Lok Sabha member of Abdullah's party. said, "It has bruised the collective conscience of Kashmir because he neither got a fair trail nor his family was intimated in time."

PDP spokesman Naeem Akhter, however, remarked, "NC and Congress are allies at the Centre and in the state. If he (Omar Abdullah) says Afzal Guru hanging did no good to Kashmir, he must share part of the blame."

Analysts also drew parallels with the hanging of Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front co-founder Maqbool Bhatt in 1984.

Abdullah made it a point to declare that he was not required to sign Guru's death warrant because the case belonged to a different state. In 1984, his father and then chief minister had signed Bhatt's warrant. Even at that time, though, nobody in the valley heeded appeals for protests by Abdul Gani Lone and Aazam Inquiabli and just a solitary stone pelting incident was reported.

A former police officer, who did not wish to be named, said Kashmir would surely bounce back to normalcy after a few days of curfew and that the incident would not impact either tourism or investment. The policeman, however, cautioned that the forces would have to be prepared for retaliation from the separatists and take extra during the annual Amarnath yatra, for instance.