Afzal Guru

Guru born in Du Aabgah village near Sopore town in the Baramulla district of the erstwhile Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir in 1969 to the family of Habibullah.

Habibullah ran a timber and transport business, and died when Guru was a child.

Guru completed his schooling from Government School, Sopore and passed the matriculation exam in 1986.

He subsequently enrolled in the Jhelum valley medical college.

He had completed the first year of his MBBS course and was preparing for competitive exams when he began to participate in other activities.

Afzal's native place was Sopore.

There, he ran a commission agency in fruits.

It was during this business venture that he came into contact with Tariq, a man from Anantnag, who motivated him to join Jihad for the liberation of Kashmir.

He crossed the Line of Control and proceeded to Muzaffarabad, Pakistan administered Kashmir.

There, he became a member of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front and then returned to Sopore shortly afterward to lead 300 rebels.

He did odd jobs and completed his graduation from Delhi University in the year 1993–94.

Shaukat who was a friend of Geelani, made Guru visit Geelani and they used to discuss Jihad and the "liberation" of Kashmir at length.

In the summer of 1993–94, on the advice of his family, he surrendered to the Border Security Force and returned to Delhi where he worked till 1996.

He took up a job with a pharmaceuticals firm and served as its area manager.

Simultaneously, he worked as a commission agent for medical and surgical goods in the year 1996.

During this period, he used to shuttle between Srinagar and Delhi.

On a visit to Kashmir in 1998, he married a Baramulla native, Tabasum.

The 13 December 2001 attack was conducted by the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM).

Gunmen sneaked into the Parliament in a car with Home Ministry and Parliament labels.

They drove into the then Vice President Krishna Kant's car parked in the premises and began firing.

The ministers and MPs escaped unhurt.

The attack was foiled due to the immediate reaction of the security personnel present at the spot and complex.

There was a fierce gun-battle lasting for nearly 30 minutes.

Nine persons including eight security personnel and one gardener lost their lives in the attack and 16 persons including 13 security personnel, received injuries.

The five assailants were killed.

At the end of December, US President George W. Bush made a telephone call to Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to defuse tension between the two countries and urge them to move away from escalating the Parliament attack into war.

On 15 December 2001, the special cell of Delhi Police, with the help of leads relating to the car used and cellphone records, arrested Guru from Srinagar, his cousin Shaukat Husain Guru, Shaukat's wife Afsan Guru (Navjot Sandhu before marriage) and S A R Gilani, a lecturer of Arabic at Delhi University were also arrested by the police.

On 29 December 2001, Guru was sent to 10-day police remand.

The court appointed Seema Gulati as his lawyer.

who dropped Guru's case after 45 days because of her case load.

On 13 December an FIR was lodged by the police and after subsequent arrests, all the accused were tried under charges of waging war, conspiracy, murder, attempt to murder etc. with the provisions of the Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002 (POTA) being added to the original charges after six days.

In June 2002, charges were filed against all four of them.

80 witnesses were examined for the prosecution and 10 witnesses were examined on behalf of the accused.

Guru was charged under several sections of POTA and the Indian Penal Code including waging of war against the Government of India and conspiracy to commit the same; murder and criminal conspiracy; conspiring and knowingly facilitating the commission of a terrorist act or acts preparatory to a terrorist act, and also voluntarily harbouring and concealing the now-deceased terrorists, knowing that such persons were terrorists and were members of the Jaish-e-Mohammad, and possession of ₹ 10 Lakhs given to him by the terrorists who were killed by the police when they attacked the Parliament.

Police filed a charge-sheet in the case on 15 May 2002.

Mohammad Afzal Guru (June 1969 – 9 February 2013) was an Islamist, Kashmiri, who was convicted for his role in the 2001 Indian Parliament attack.

He received a death sentence for his involvement, which was upheld by the Indian Supreme Court.

Following the rejection of a mercy petition by the President of India, he was executed on 9 February 2013.

His body was buried within the precincts of Delhi's Tihar Jail.

He was a member of a Pakistan-based Jihadist terrorist organisation Jaish-e-Mohammed.