The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government is unlikely to change its stand on handing over the body of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru to his family.
Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde had said on the day of Guru’s hanging that his body was buried inside Tihar jail according to the jail manual. The ministry later expressed willingness to allow the immediate family to visit the site of his burial so that they could offer final prayers. However, the ministry refused to hand over the body on the grounds that it could lead to deterioration of law and order situation in the Valley.
A senior Home Ministry official said the government would soon take a final call on the issue and convey it to the Jammu & Kashmir government. The state government had forwarded a letter by Tabassum, Guru’s wife, demanding her husband’s body and personal belongings.
The Jammu and Kashmir government, led by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, had forwarded Tabassum’s letter to the deputy-commissioner of Baramulla in North Kashmir.