Will contest Assembly poll from Sopore, says Afzal Guru’s brother

Aijaz Ahmad Guru, brother of Parliament attack convict Mohammad Afzal Guru, on Saturday said he would join the electoral politics and contest from north Kashmir as an Independent. “I have decided to contest the poll as an Independent and will file nomination from the Sopore constituency,” Aijaz Ahmad Guru told The Tribune on Saturday.

He cited his son’s arrest as one of the main reasons for contesting poll. He alleged that the police had framed his son on false charges and his son had been in jail from the last few months. In December, the police in Baramulla district had claimed to have booked a “wanted drug peddler Shoaib Aijaz Guru” under the Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. According to Guru, being a Kashmiri resident, he too has a right to contest and serve the people.

Afzal Guru, who hailed from North Kashmir was hanged in 2013 for his role in the 2001 Parliament attack. This is the first time when someone from the Guru family is jumping into the electoral fray. Aijaz, however, says he won’t contest on his brother’s name. “All these years, people have done politics on my brother’s name and they had no right to do it,” he said, adding he had a different vision as compared to his brother. “My aim is to serve people and represent youth, who are facing multiple problems,” he said.

While Guru is not a separatist, several leaders have made a switch from the separatist side to the mainstream for the upcoming elections.

Earlier this month, Hurriyat member and separatist leader Syed Salim Geelani had joined PDP. The Awami Ittehad Party, led by jailed MP Engineer Rashid, recently announced Javid Hubbi, the son of former Hurriyat leader Ghulam Mohammad Hubbi, as its candidate from the Charar-e-Sharief Assembly seat in central Kashmir.

Mohammad Altaf Bhat, brother of jailed leader Bashir Ahmad Bhat and a key aide of the late Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, has been announced as a candidate by Engineer Rashid’s party from Rajpora seat of south Kashmir.

Aga Muntazir Mehdi, son of Hurriyat executive member Aga Syed Hassan al Moosvi, recently joined the PDP and is contesting from Budgam.

Besides, the banned Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI-JK) has also fielded four Independent candidates from South Kashmir in the first phase. Founded in 1943, the JEI, which is the only cadre-based party in J&K, besides the National Conference, is contesting the polls for the first time after 30 years.

Political experts in the Valley say the latest trend is linked to the uncertain future of separatist politics in Kashmir.

“Most of the separatist leadership is in jail right now and there could be people who are in search of a better political future, and also escape the kind of risk involved in separatist politics,” Professor Noor Baba, a Srinagar-based political expert told The Tribune.

He said separatist politics does not seem to have a good future in the present situation. “So many of them are apparently trying to look for other options and secure themselves by shifting to the mainstream,” he added.