Indian Militant Afzal Guru Hanged In New Delhi

Afzal Guru, a conspirator in the 2001 attack on the Indian parliament, has been hanged in New Delhi.

The Home Minister of India said Guru was hanged at 8am local time at New Delhi's Tihar jail.

In December 2001, five armed terrorists drove into the Indian Parliament complex and opened fire.

Nine people were killed, most of them members of the security forces. All the terrorists were shot dead.

The Indian Government initially accused the Pakistan-based terrorist organisations Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) of being involved in the attack. 

In December 2002, four JeM members were caught by Indian authorities and put on trial. All four, including Afzal Guru, were found guilty of playing varying roles in the incident.

The attack brought the two nuclear power countries close to war.

The Indian government asked Pakistan to apprehend the organisations' leaders and curb the financial assets and the groups' access to their assets.

In response, Pakistani forces were put on high alert the same day.

On December 20, India mobilised and deployed its troops to Kashmir and Punjab in what was India's largest military mobilisation since the 1971 Indo-Pakistani War.

World leaders condemned the attack on the Indian parliament and stepped in to calm the situation.

In 2004, Guru was given the death sentence by the Supreme Court.

The sentence was scheduled to be carried out on October 20, 2006, but was stayed after his wife filed a mercy petition with the President of India.

The petition was rejected and returned to the Home Ministry on February 3 this year.

Guru is from Kashmir and the government is taking all measures to quell protests in the valley. 

A curfew has been imposed in most towns in the valley in Kashmir. Cable operators have pulled the plug on news channels in some areas to prevent protests.

Many in India believe there is a political motivation for the hanging. The Congress-led government has long been seen dragging its feet on issues of terrorism and want to shun that image.

In November last year, Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving terrorist from Pakistan who was caught during the Mumbai attacks was executed in a Pune jail.