Afzal Guru's letters to be compiled into book

Four months after his execution, Afzal Guru’s jail house letters are being compiled into a book, which will shortly hit the bookstores in Jammu and Kashmir.

Guru has written number of letters and write-ups to his family, friends and other people during his 11 years stay in Tihar jail. The letters are now being collected and compiled by his friends into a book that will be released soon.

Leading this campaign is the senior Hurriyat Conference leader and National Front chairman Nayeem Ahmad Khan, who said the book will be the fitting tribute to Guru who was hanged and buried in Tihar on February 9. “Guru has written several letters outlining  his vision. Therefore some of his friends have decided to compile the letters into a book which will be released soon,” Khan said.

However, Guru’s family said they are not averse to the idea of the book per se but they want only the authentic material to be published by his name. “We are apprehensive of just one thing. Any material, which he (Guru) did not even write or communicate, should not be attributed to my brother,” Yasin Guru, cousin brother of Afzal Guru, told dna.

Yasin said the family has not been informed either formally or informally by the writers.
“Till date no body has approached us. It would have been better if these people could have communicated to us or showed letters so that we could verify his handwriting,” he said.

“He (Guru) spent almost a decade in jail and there might have been so many people with whom he would have been in touch. My family will have no problem if the letters convey the cause he stood for,” he said.