Kashmiri freedom fighter Afzal Guru. PHOTO: AFP
Ministry of Kashmir Affairs has asked the Foreign Office to take the execution of Kashmiri freedom fighter Afzal Guru to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the ground that he was not given a fair trial.
“I have formally asked the foreign affairs ministry to complete all the formalities to take up the execution of Afzal Guru to the international court of Justice, seeking a justice for the Kashmiri freedom fighter even after his death,” said Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan Barjis Tahir.
Indian government executed Afzal Guru in the Tihar Jail in New Delhi on February 9 2013 for allegedly masterminding the attack on the Indian Parliament in 2001. The execution had sparked criticism and raised many questions from across the world over the fair trial by the Indian authorities.
Indian authorities arrested Guru in 2001 and claimed that he was involved in planning the attack on the Indian Parliament back in a 2001 that left 14 people dead.
He said the Indian courts convicted and subsequently hanged him without having ample evidence of his involvement in the attack on parliament and even his body was not handed over to his family.
Earlier, on the occasion of Kashmir Solidarity Day on February 5, 2014, Barjis Tahir at a TV talk show had pledged to take the case of Guru to the International Court of Justice.
The step was taken after the revelation of the brutalities committed by the Indian security forces on Guru in the Jail and it was revealed in a book of an Indian author Arundhati Roy, who referred to some Indian investigators, who confessed on committing serious atrocities on the freedom fighter.
Roy mentioned of an investigator and deputy superintendent of Indian police, who admitted of torturing Guru by burning his body and electrocuting him after filling his stomach with petrol.
She further quoted the DSP that despite subjecting Guru with worse atrocities, they failed to make him confess the crime.
Guru had been on death row since first being convicted in 2002. Subsequent appeals in higher courts were also rejected, and India’s Supreme Court set an October 2006 date for execution. But his execution was delayed after his wife filed a mercy petition with India’s president.
That petition, the last step in the judicial process, was turned down in the first week of February 2013 and he was executed on February 9, 2013.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 16th, 2014.
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@ET - Do you ever allow anything to publish..U are the most biased site i have ever visited..at least allow sarcasm, leg pulling etc to get published if not obsecinity..
@Akhtar Baloch: dont worry dude u will get ur independence soon from pakistan.... balochistan hoga azaad :D
Akhtar Baloch : Then what is your problem Afzal guru is in paradise with 72 hoors . Be happy for him. If anyone else want to join him, send them over to India,
First be concerned about pakistan's evil acts in balochistan.
Afzal Guru is innocent and a hero for all Muslims, in Paradise as a martyr. His hangmen will burn in Hellfire. Shame on India, this terrorist state which murders our Kashmiri relatives with impunity.
Lets start at the beginning then. Lets take Pakistan to Geneva for initiating the tribal invasion of Kashmir.
Its a shame and I'm shocked how people can read about how Afzal Guru was tortured and remain unfazed. Allah will punish his torturers. He is a great man in Paradise, in sha' Allah. Long live Kashmir freedom movement, long live Pakistan.
Since when does this international court have jurisdiction anyway. Just a ploy by this minister to be in the news, knowing he is lying to the public
Osama Bin Laden was executed within Pakistani territory by US without a fair trial or even a say in court (who by the way confessed to the crime)....
Would Pakistan take Obama to court ? ...This Pak minister is playing to the gallery to fool Pakistanis for his own needs (by wasting Pak's dollars) ...Its up to sane Pakistanis to see through his game ..else this will blow up on Pakistan's face (would not be the first nor as I see the last)
It cost Pakistan $10 million to run this case in Hague. The result will be embarassment to Pakistan. Mr.Barjis Tahir may get some commission out of the above amount. that is only the reason he recommend such useless plans.
If there a fit case to be referred to the International Court, it is the treason trial of General Parvez Musharraf. There is a general feeling that the Judiciary in Pakistan is biased against General Musharraf, and he is unlikely to receive a fair trial at home. The Pakistani Judiciary has done itself no credit in the past by allowing its strings to be pulled by whosoever happens to be occupying the seat of power. The current disposition of Nawaz Sharief, for obvious reasons, is hostile towards General Musharraf and this fact will greatly influence the outcome of this case, if tried in Pakistan.
Can the Baloch people take Pakistan to ICJ for the murder of 1) Akbar Buti 2) Zulfikar Ali Bhutto who was tried and hung by a kangaroo court on the orders of a tyrant to get rid of opposition to his rule. 3) Millions of Bengalis during the Pakistan rule of E Pakistan
Since Pakistanis have such faith in ICJ, we should club all the above cases along with Afzal Gurus.
Can anyone in Pakistan inform me if Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had admitted to his crimes before he was hanged?
Afzal Guru was an Indian citizen. He committed a crime the court system convicted him. If the justice was not done, that should be a problem of Indian civil society, not ours. We have our own problems such as missing persons, bodies in Balochistan and evil Taliban. We should mind our own business.
India should pass resolution on pakistans humanright voilation in baloochistan and declare moral &political support to baloochis freedom sstruggle. Also warn pakis interfering on indias affairs.
The guy in the photo looks as saintly as Mother Theresa.
Rather than concern herself with execution handed down by judicial authorities to Indian nationals in India, Pakistan should concern herself about extra judicial executions of Pakistani nationals within Pakistan controlled territory such as Karachi and Khuzdar:
http://tribune.com.pk/story/672422/lashing-out-mqm-has-proof-of-rangers-atrocities-says-altaf-hussain/
http://tribune.com.pk/story/664328/grisly-discovery-11-more-bodies-found-in-khuzdar-mass-grave/
Please also take the state and non state actors sitting in Pakistan responsible for Mumbai 1993, Mumbai 2008, Indian parliament 2002 and so on to the Hague for ''JUSTICE''.
Can anyone in Pakistan inform me if Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had admitted to his crimes before he was hanged.
India doesn't accept the jurisdiction of ICJ so no matter where the Islamists want to take the case, it won't work.
This particular news item can define pakistan. Doublespeak and hypocracy at its elemental best.
The lesson of the past defeat faced by Pakistan when her attempt to get the International Court of Justice to involve itself in the case of India shooting down the Pakistan Navy’s Dassault Atlantique aircraft for violating Indian air space, seems not to have been learnt by Minister Barjis Tahir.
Let’s see now if the Pakistan Foreign Office has imbibed the lesson of the ICJ’s slap-down and will avoid embarrassing Pakistan by taking the case of India executing one her own nationals for terrorism offences to the ICJ, who I am pretty sure will summarily reject even hearing the case.
Yes good times r coming for Indo pak relations
Ridiculous and laughworthy. First practice and then preach.... all the best.
Hmm I wonder if the case of poor Balochis who are killed, abducted and oppressed day and night would go to Hague too.
This is called poking into the neighbours affairs.
I agree that the trial of Afzal Guru was not properly conducted and his execution and conviction are a blot on Indian justice system.
But once a while every country does that to send out a message.
If Pakistan does this, India should take the trial of Shakil Afridi. Which was a bigger mockery of justice system.
First try to stop taliban blast and then put your nose in our matters.. And what about balochistan kidnappings
What a joke. Afzal Guru had his day in the court which the 'missing people' of Balochistan whose bodies are found in body bags never received. Nor was it a sham. Trial lasting one day like that of Afridi. Guru's trial and appeal took 10 years. Many of his co accused were actually acquitted by the courts proving hat it was no kangaroo court.
Of course in a country where no terrorist has EVER been convicted despite killing thousands of its own citizens, Pakistan MAY feel that coniction and execution of any terrorist is nt right. Of course we Indians beg to diffwr.
Have fun at Hague when You will spend precious forex reserves to lose your case once more just like al the cases about Indus Waters Treaty that youhave lost.