A poster carrying photo of Afzal Guru. PHOTO: REUTERS
NEW DELHI:
The family of Mohammed Afzal Guru, who was executed at the weekend, has rejected an offer by Indian authorities to pray at his graveside inside a prison, insisting the body be buried in his home state.
Indian Home Secretary RK Singh made the offer Tuesday and said that the belongings of Mohammed Afzal Guru, an Indian Muslim, would be handed over to his family members.
Guru, a former fruit seller, was hanged at Tihar Jail on the outskirts of the capital after his final appeal for mercy was rejected by President Pranab Mukherjee.
“We have no problem if the immediate family of Afzal Guru wants to come and offer prayers at his grave in Tihar jail. Belongings of Afzal will be returned to the family,” Singh told reporters in Delhi.
However a relative of Guru said that the family had no intention of visiting his grave, insisting that the body be brought back to Kashmir.
“As Muslims we can pray for Afzal from here,” Guru’s cousin, Yasin Guru told AFP from the family’s hometown of Sopore in the Kashmir Valley.
“We will go to Tihar only if the government of India is kind enough to hand us his body for burial here.”
The announcement comes amid criticism of the government for failing to inform the family about the execution before he went to the gallows.
A letter sent from the government announcing that his mercy plea had been rejected only arrived at the family’s home on Monday morning.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 13th, 2013.
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