“Sovereignty Under Siege” continues…

On the same day, another incoming call from Srinagar, on mobile number 98xxx73506, was intercepted. In this call, a lady, later identified as Afsan Guru aka Navjot Sandhu, speaking to Shaukat Hussain Guru, inquiring about his well- being and that of Afzal Guru.

Surveillance was mounted at the residence of Geelani in Mukherjee Nagar, and on 15 December, sleuths of the Special Cell apprehended Sayyed Abdul Rehman Geelani. On interrogation, he confessed that he had knowledge of the attack on the Parliament and that 98xxx89249 was the number of Afzal Guru of Baramulla district in Jammu and Kashmir. Geelani further disclosed that Shaukat Hussain Guru, then residing in Mukherjee Nagar, was the user of the mobile number 98xxx73506.

Geelani was from the Baramulla district, as per his disclosure to the police. After completing his schooling in Baramulla Government School, he moved to Kakroli in the Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh, where he studied the Quran and Arabic at a madrasa. Subsequently, he completed his BA degree from Lucknow and his MA degree from Zakir Hussain College in Delhi University. In 1995, after completing an MPhil in Arabic, he began to pursue his PhD in Arabic from Delhi University and also to teach at Rajdhani College, Delhi.

During the time he was pursuing his postgraduate degree, Geelani met a Kashmiri youngster, Shaukat Hussain Guru, in Delhi. Shaukat also belonged to Baramulla. As both of them were from the same district, they began to meet often and became good friends. Shaukat shared with him the details of his love affair with a Sikh girl, Navjot Sandhu. Geelani married the two of them in a small ceremony in which he officiated as the maulvi. Navjot Sandhu was converted to Islam by Geelani and given the name Afsan Guru.

To be continued…