Mohammad Abu Bakar
In Doabgah village of North Kashmir’s Sopore, hordes of people thronged to the house of 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.
However, unlike in the recent past, when most of the visitors visited to pay condolences, this was time for celebration. Galib Afzal Guru, the 15-year-old son of late Afzal Guru (who was hanged on February 9, 2013 in Delhi’s Tihar Jail), had passed the 10th class Jammu and Kashmir State Board of School Education exams with 94.8 percent marks and secured the 19th position in the entire state. Neighbours and relatives couldn’t wait till morning to drop in to congratulate him.
“The success is just the foundation for realising my father’s dream,” Galib believes. “He would’ve been very happy to see me securing such high marks, but Abu Jinever cared about marks, his thrust was always on knowledge,” Galib said. Galib is looking to take up subjects that will allow him to become a doctor. However, he says his father’s dream was to see him become an Islamic Scholar.
“Whenever I met him in jail, he would always tell me to follow the path of Quran and teachings of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Worldly pursuits will follow when you succeed in understanding Islam and its teachings,” Galib, whose father was incarcerated in the same year he was born, said.