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India-Pakistan

Shutdown in Kashmir on Afzal’s death anniversary

2020-02-10

[HindustanTimes] Shops, markets and other businesses mostly remained closed in the capital Srinagar on Sunday and public transport stayed off the roads. A general strike called by Kashmiri separatists to mark the seventh death anniversary of Mohammad Afzal Guru, convicted for his role in the 2001 attack on Parliament and hanged this day in 2013, hit normal life in the Valley on Sunday. Shops, markets and other businesses mostly remained closed in the capital Srinagar on Sunday and public transport stayed off the roads. Mobile internet services were suspended early on Sunday amid concerns over possible violence during the shutdown sponsored by separatist groups, and were restored in the evening, officials said.

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India-Pakistan

Srinagar: 5 CRPF jawans, 2 ultras killed in terror attack

2013-03-13

India: Five Central Reserve Police Force troopers and two suicide attackers were among seven persons killed and nine others wounded in a fidayeen attack in the Bemina locality of the Srinagar on Wednesday morning. Those injured included seven CRPF troopers and two civilians. All the injured have been evacuated to hospital for treatment. A senior police officer said two militants attacked a CRPF patrol at Bemina near a public school on Wednesday morning lobbing grenades and firing from automatic weapons. "Five CRPF jawans were killed on the spot and seven other jawans were injured," the officer added. Senior policemen and paramilitary CRPF officers rushed to the spot along with reinforcements and the area was immediately surrounded. He said the CRPF and police retaliated and engaged the militants in a gunfight near a school during which the two suicide attackers were killed. However, the he Police Public School was closed due to strike called by separatists in support of their demand for return of mortal remains of Parliament attack convict Mohammad Afzal Guru. Inspector General of Police (Kashmir) Abdul Gani Mir aid the group affiliation and identity of the militants killed in the incident was a matter of investigation.

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India-Pakistan

Omar Abdullah opposes Afzal Guru's hanging

2010-06-26

NEW DELHI: Indian-held Kashmir (IHK) Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has voiced his opposition to the death sentence given to Mohammad Afzal Guru for his involvement in the 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament. Talking to a Srinagar-based news agency, Omar said he was considering intervening in the issue to stop the hanging, as it could create new complications in Kashmir, similar to the ones created by the execution of Kashmiri leader Muhammad Maqbool Bhat in 1984 in Delhi's Tihar Jail. Omar said that he was consulting legal experts on his position in the Afzal Guru case and trying to determine whether his opinion would be sought, as Afzal is a Kashmiri national. He has also asked the Kashmir advocate general to give his opinion on the technical and legal aspects of Guru's case. Technically Omar's opinion is not required by the Indian president before deciding the clemency petition of Guru, as both the crime and trial took place in New Delhi. Omar said he would not put his signature on the death warrant if he was required to do so. “I am against the death sentence and I want to make it clear that if I am required to sign Guru's death warrant, I will not do it,' he said, adding that problems did not get resolved by hanging people. “The hanging of Maqbool Bhat did not solve any issue but created more complications,' he said.

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India-Pakistan

Terror email signed on Wed, sent on Sat

2008-08-07

'Indian Mujahideen' claimed responsibility for the serial blasts in UP, Jaipur and Ahmedabad on July 26. But then who was responsible for the blasts in Bangalore the previous day? Security analyst and former additional cabinet secretary B Raman has analyzed the emails claiming responsibility for the serial blasts in three towns of UP on November 23 last year, Jaipur on May 13 and in Ahmedabad last week. The UP email was drafted as if the message was from the leader of 'Indian Mujahideen' to explain why they had launched 'jihad' and the originator of this message identified himself as 'Guru al-Hindi' . "This gave rise to an interpretation that the leader of the group had assumed a 'kuniyat' or pseudonym after Mohammad Afzal Guru," says Raman. According to Raman, organizations like the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Al-Qaida take their 'kuniyats' from the holy Quran and not from living persons. The Jaipur and Ahmedabad emails too have 'Guru al-Hindi ' as the originator. There are more quotations from the holy Quran in the Ahmedabad email, similar to the ones seen in the messages of Osama Bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri. The Jaipur blast email did not carry the signature of 'Guru al-Hindi' . In the 26/7 email, the word 'Alarbi' is written in capital letters on the left of the signature. According to Raman, 'Al Arbi' or 'Al Arabia' means Arab but it has not been used in that sense. Rather, in Arabic language, Wednesday is known as 'Al Arbi' or 'Al Arbia' , meaning the fourth day of the week. 'Guru al-Hindi ' seems to have been hand-written , indicating that the message was signed on Wednesday, July 23. "The message itself was sent by email shortly before the 26/7 blasts. But if the message was drafted on July 23, why did it not give any advance warning of the Bangalore blasts which happened on July 25. Were the Bangalore blasts carried out by a different group?" questions Raman.

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India-Pakistan

Kashmiri groups call for mercy on death convict

2006-09-29

Political parties in Indian held Kashmir have called for clemency for Kashmiri national Mohammad Afzal Guru, who is facing hanging on October 20 for his role in the December 13, 2001, Indian parliament attack. Both anti and pro-India parties have opposed the death penalty to Afzal. Various anti-India political parties held demonstrations in Srinagar on Wednesday, while pro-India parties like the People's Democratic Party (PDP) and the local unit of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) have also opposed the sentence. The political parties in Srinagar believe that Afzal's death would raise tensions in Kashmir and thereby affect the peace process. Mehbooba Mufti, president of the PDP, said that she had asked the Indian prime minister to pardon Afzal. CPI-M leader Mohammad Yusuf Tarigama has sought an appointment with President APJ Abdul Kalam to seek a presidential pardon for Afzal. "All I am going to tell the president is that his (Afzal's) hanging will vitiate the peace process and will cause more bloodshed," he said.

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