Three Years After His Hanging, Has Kashmir Forgotten Afzal Guru?

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Published in The Quint on February 9, 2016, at 2:45 pm
Daanish Bin Nabi 

Maqbool Bhat’s Hanging: A Catalyst for Mobilisation

February 9, 2013 was a calm morning. I woke up to a loud announcement. A strict curfew across the Valley had been put in place. Shocked, I was up in a jiffy, trying to figure out why there was an unscheduled curfew. I hurriedly opened my laptop. The banner news read: “Afzal Guru hanged in Tihar jail”. 

On a similar morning, thirty years ago, Mohammad Maqbool Bhat was hanged in Tihar jail on February 11, 1984. Ironically, few Kashmiris knew about Maqbool Bhat. No shutdown was observed in any part of Kashmir.
But when Mohammad Afzal Guru was hanged in Tihar jail, New Delhi had to put in place a 12-day long curfew throughout Kashmir, waiting for tempers to cool down.
Why the silence at the time of Maqbool Bhat? Kashmir based political analysts attribute it to a vacuum in leadership at that time. When Bhat was hanged, there was no mobilisation of people. With time, his hanging has become a catalyst for large-scale mobilisation in the Valley, and continues to be to this day.

Afzal Guru’s Hanging and the Alienation of Kashmir

In Kashmir, one must not draw conclusions on the basis of appearances. At times, figments become a prelude to huge storms, the likes of which were seen in 2008, 2009 and 2010.
Afzal Guru’s hanging alienated Kashmir. The effect was soon felt when the NC-led government lost the election miserably. Public anger was captured well by senior journalist Shujaat Bukhari.
This year too, the Hurriyat conglomerate including Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front has issued a shutdown call, pressing for the return of Bhat and Guru’s mortal remains, who were buried inside Tihar Jail. This is Kashmir’s protest against the “atrocities” perpetrated on Kashmiris.
Three years after he was hanged, does Afzal Guru still hold sway over Kashmiris?
The outsider may miss the sarcasm in the comment of Kashmir’s veteran journalist Yousuf Jameel.
It is believed in Kashmir that Afzal did not get a fair trial. People say he was hanged in a hush-hush manner on the fateful morning of February 9. It is also commonly believed that in hanging Afzal Guru, the Congress pursued vote bank politics. The Congress coalition partner National Conference (NC), headed by Omar Abdullah, was informed about the execution on January 31, 2013, when Abdullah was in New Delhi.

Is Hartal Politics Effective?

This time too, following old school politics, the government has imposed restrictions in all seven police stations in downtown Srinagar. The Hurriyat leaders and JKLF chief Mohammad Yasin Malik have been detained along with hundreds of Hurriyat activists and cadre, mostly from the Hurriyat (G) faction. This is to make sure that “peace” is not disrupted in Kashmir. Peace and Kashmir are seldom said in one go.
Hartal politics may be diminishing in Kashmir today. However, this does not indicate that Kashmir has forgotten Maqbool or Afzal. HOD Law Department Central University of Kashmir Dr Sheikh Showkat Hussain puts it aptly.
Like it did for Maqbool, Kashmir is now waiting for the mortal remains of Afzal Guru. Tabasum Guru, the wife of Afzal Guru, said, “In my view, even if we protest, I don’t think much will change. Protests won’t have any impact on New Delhi now. For them, it is raat gayee baat gayee.”

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