On death row for Parliament attack, Afzal Guru tells Tihar jail authorities he wants to read autobiography of the man whose party wants him hanged pronto

BJP leader LK Advani's autobiography My Country My Life will have an unexpected reader.

Mohammed Afzal (widely known as Afzal Guru), on death row for the December 2001 Parliament attack whose hanging Advani's party has been trying to hasten, has made a special request to Tihar jail authorities to read the veteran politician's autobiography, in which Afzal himself has got a prominent mention.

Afzal has requested the jail superintendent for a copy of Advani's book and has informed the authorities that he wants to read it, said Tihar sources.

"He told us that he had read in the newspapers about Advani's book and had been toying with the idea of reading it. He told us that he was interested to know what Advani had written about him in the book. We have forwarded his request to the director general of prisons," said a jail official.

When MiD DAY contacted Advani at his residence over phone, a close associate said Advani was not aware of Afzal's interest in his book. Incidentally, BJP's chief ministerial candidate for Delhi VK Malhotra was vrecently quoted in media saying the file concerning Afzal's hanging would be moved "in one day" if he came to power.

Rejecting BJP's charge that the UPA government is soft on terror, Congress MP Sandeep Dikshit said all that the saffron party is interested in is playing politics over the issue. "Afzal will be hanged in the process of law. Even the assassins of Indira Gandhi were executed after a protracted legal battle," Dikshit told MiD DAY.

Lodged in one of Tihar's high security cells, Afzal is known to be a man of few words. Jail authorities have often seen him scribbling notes, though they have never been able to make out what. Authorities say Afzal is very particular about his daily routine, never missing his five namaaz sessions and his walks.

In the face of likely death, Afzal has apparently retained his wit. "Once, during a press conference in the jail, surveillance footage showed Afzal praying in a vest. When he came to know about it he joked saying, he would have worn a clean kurta-pajama if we had informed him earlier," said a Tihar official.

Dr Shalini Anant, a psychologist with the Sanjeevani Nursing Home, Kamla Nagar, said: "Death row prisoners usually lose hope,  and their interest in daily activities. They also interact very little.  But there can be exceptions."

Sunil Kumar Gupta, public relations officer of Tihar Jail, said: "I do not know much about Afzal's request. The jail library has a large collection of books in different languages. Whenever a prisoner demands a book, we try to ensure that he gets it. Great leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru have written their autobiographies while serving prison sentences."

Prisoners are encouraged to read so that they can spend their time constructively, Gupta added.

Excerpt from Advani's My Country, My Life

"What can be a more shaming indictment of the Congress party's politics of minority appeasement than the fact that the relatives of the valiant security personnel who became martyrs in the December 13 terrorist attack returned the President's gallantry medals in protest against the UPA government's refusal to give a go-ahead for Afzal's execution."

'BJP politicising it'

The BJP is unnecessarily politicising Afzal's case. He will be hanged in the process of law - Sandeep Dikshit