Afzal was a Jaish operative: brother

In 2000, the Special Task Force (STF) of J&K Police identified Afzal as a Jaish-e-Mohammad operative. The question then arises is why didn't the STF testify during Afzal's trial that they suspected him to be linked to a terrorist organisation.

In fact, the Supreme Court said in its judgment that there is no evidence of Afzal being a member of a terrorist organisation. None of the 80 prosecution witnesses ever even alleged that Afzal was in any way associated or belonged to any terrorist organisation. So, is Mohammad Afzal a terrorist?

Afzal says it was former SP of STF Dravinder Singh who compelled him to take Mohammad, one of the five terrorists involved in the Parliament attack on December 13, 2001, to Delhi and find him a house.

However, Dravinder says he never met Afzal after June 2000.

"After June 2000 I have not had any conversation with him. Nor did I meet him. There is no iota of truth in these allegations. I don’t know who has tutored him to say these things," Dravinder claims.

Afzal says Dravinder passed instructions to Mohammad and him over the phone and insists that phone records will prove that he was being directed by the STF.

"These people are making up stories. If he claims that the phone number is from the STF then let’s get the number verified. Do you think that Delhi Police has not verified them? Do you think that is possible? These are all concocted stories," Dravinder argues.
"If I do have a role in these activities then do you think the police or Government will spare me. It’s such a big episode and nobody will be spared. So, now one can say anything to save themselves," Dravinder adds.

But by admitting that he helped Mohammad, Afzal clearly implicates himself in the Parliament attack case.

"If it was cleared five-six years ago then what do they want to prove now? In his letter also Afzal has admitted to some extent. Now what do that want to prove?" Afzal’s elder brother, Aijaz Guru asks.

However, the police insist that Afzal knows more than what he revealed either in his letters or in the trial court.

"Well, Afzal should either accept that he is part of the conspiracy, whether at our behest or at the behest of the STF. You can’t have both sides. He can’t say I’m innocent because I’m not part of the conspiracy and then on the other hand say that ‘no, I was part of the conspiracy because I was forced into it’. So, let him make one stand clear. This is an extremely awkward situation where on one hand he’s pleading innocence and on the other hand he’s admitting he’s part of it and blaming the STF for it," Inspector General, J&K Police, S M Sahai says.

Despite the contradictions in Afzal’s letters, SAR Geelani, the Delhi University professor who was acquitted in the case, insists that the case against Afzal is based on circumstantial evidence.
"The court says that the first circumstantial evidence against him is that he identified the bodies of those killed inside Parliament," Geelani claims.

Strangely though, Afzal has always admitted to bringing Mohammad from Srinagar to Delhi. But then he claims he never identified Mohammad's body. "I had not identified any terrorist. Police told me the names of terrorists and forced me to identify them," he claims.
So is Afzal a terrorist? And was he involved in the Parliament attack?
"He was a part of JeM and he’s very much part of that conspiracy," Sahai states emphatically.
Afzal’s brother Aijaz, too, speaks on the same lines. "I will talk straight. I swear to Khuda that Afzal was a Jaish-e-Mohammad operative. Through Jaish he had helped in terror attacks in India," says Aijaz.

Now, even as President APJ Abdul Kalam ponders over Afzal's fate, his brother mourns the twist of destiny that has put Afzal on death row.

"He (Afzal) used to say that he doesn’t want to live here. He was worried that they (Jaish) will get after him. I sent him away but then suddenly I don’t know what happened to him. I don’t know how Gazi Baba influenced him to go to Delhi and work for him. That is the story of Afzal," Aijaz regrets.

"Whatever the country has decided for him is the right decision," Aijaz observes