Earlier, the NC had sought the return of Afzal’s mortal remains to his family, saying that “justice can not have different interpretations for different people”.
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“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 said. Afzal Guru’s body was not handed over to his family members but buried in the Tihar jail.
“NC working president (and former chief minister) Omar Abdullah had written to the then Prime Minister of India demanding the return of Guru’s mortal remains and the party has repeatedly raised this demand even on the floor of the Legislative Assembly”, he said. “The system of justice can not have different interpretations for different people”, said NC leader Syed Ruhullah Mehdi.
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. However, they lashed out at former Chief Minister and NC leader Omar Abdullah for not raising the demand when their party was in power.
“Today they are doing politics on his mortal remains for their political survival again”.
Afzal Guru, the mastermind behind the 2001 parliament attacks was hanged in 2013 when the UPA was in power at the Centre.
People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leader Abhijit Jasrotia told ANI, “Talking about National Conference, I always say them as a multifaceted party”.
The demand for Afzal’s mortal remains was spurred last week when the independent legislator Engineer Abdul Rasheed staged a protest in Srinagar’s Lal Chowk on the day when the 1993 Mumbai carnage convict, Yakub Memon, was executed at a jail in Nagpur.
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After the hanging of Afzal Guru, Omar had said that he was informed by central government about Guru’s hanging few hours before his hanging and had no prior information about it.
