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| Azad's demand of return of Afzal Guru's mortal remains "unreasonable" | | At the time of Guru's hanging, he himself was "powerful" minister in Cong-led UPA govt at Centre | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Aug 2: Congress leader and MP Ghulam Nabi Azad's statement that the Supreme Court should take a notice of the demands in J&K that Afzal Guru's mortal remains be handed over to his family is of course "unreasonable, illogical and inappropriate".
Azad, now the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, was himself a "powerful" minister in the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre when Guru was hanged on February 9, 2013. Despite protests in the valley and a demand put forth by some MLAs and ministers in then state government in this regard, his government had refused to hand over the mortal remains to the Guru's family, fearing trouble in the valley. He was buried inside Tihar jail in New Delhi.
Now, when it is BJP-led NDA government at the Centre, he has all of a sudden changed his and his party's stance over the issue which has come as a surprise to many in the state's political circles.
"There should be one decision and that should be applied across the country and should be applicable to all the people and all the religions," he told national media yesterday. The fresh demand for the return of Afzal Guru's mortal remains arose after the Maharashtra government handed over Yakub Memon's body to his family. Memon, a lone convict of the 1993 Mumbai blasts, was hanged on July 30 last month in the Nagpur jail of Maharashtra.
"It has generally been seen across the world and, particularly in our country, that irrespective of religion, the bodies of whoever has been hanged have been handed over to their family… Since Yakub Memon's body has been handed over to his family… there will be more voices asking why we should pick and choose in handing over the bodies to the members of the family," Azad said.
The Supreme Court should take notice of it and take the decision, he felt.
Congress MPs like Mani Shankar Aiyar and Shashi Tharoor have in the past argued that Afzal's body should have been handed over to his family.
While raising such a demand, Azad must realise the situation that prevailed in the valley after the Guru's hanging. Had the mortal remains been handed over then to his family, the separatists and other Pak agents in Kashmir would have made every possible effort to benefit from the situation and inflame anti-India sentiment. Supporting the fresh demand for the return of Guru's mortal remains is therefore ridiculous and nullifies UPA's stand on the issue. The situation has not at all changed in Kashmir and the same sentiment prevails there now also. He should therefore try to aware himself of the fact that it was his UPA government and not the NDA government that had taken the "wise" decision of not returning the Guru's mortal remains to his family for burial in Kashmir.
While his mercy petition had got caught up in a political slugfest between the UPA government and BJP, which was then in opposition, all legal procedures were followed in the execution. President Pranab Mukherjee had rejected the mercy petition on February 3 and then union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde given approval on February 4. |
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