Afzal Guru's Wife Takes On Chidambaram

SRINAGAR: Tabassum Guru, the widow of 2001 parliament attack convict, Afzal Guru, Friday said former union minister, P Chidambaram, had "supported" her husband's execution, as in her view he had remained a "mute spectator" to the events that led to the execution in 2013.

In an interview with a national daily, Chidambaram had said there are "grave doubts" about Afzal's involvement in the conspiracy behind the 2001 parliament attack case which had brought the nuclear rivals, India and Pakistan, on the brink of war.

“Even if he was involved, there were grave doubts about the extent of his involvement. He could have been imprisoned for life without parole for (the) rest of his natural life,” Chidambaram told the daily recently.

Tabassum, a nurse by profession, said the Congress leader should have spoken out earlier so that Afzal's "judicial murder" as it is regarded by large sections in Kashmir, could have been stopped.

"Now he is speaking for vested interests. Everyone knows the execution of Afzal was (the) murder of justice. It is he (Chidambaram) who supported it at that time by acting as a mute spectator," Tabassum said.

Chidambaram had said that “Afzal Guru case was perhaps not correctly decided", "I can’t say what I would have done. It is only when you sit on that seat you take that decision,” the senior Congress leader, who was the home minister from 2008 to 2012, said.

Accusing Chidambaram of rubbing salt on her wounds, Tabassum said the "innocence" of Afzal and the secrecy with which he was executed, will continue to haunt India for a long time.

"My husband was innocent. Everyone knows it. Even the final judgment of the Supreme Court that sentenced him to death said he was hanged to 'satisfy the collective conscience' of India. It is better for politicians to shut their mouth and stop creating a vote-bank in the name of Afzal," she said.

Reacting to the stir at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), she praised the students for raising their voice against the hanging of her husband, “Even the college students in India are protesting against my husband's execution,” she said.

Tabassum said the Congress party remained silent when the court ordered the death sentence to Afzal and his mercy plea was turned down by the President of India.