Former central interlocutor on Kashmir, M M Ansari, stated today that the Indian government should hand over the body of Mohammad Afzal Guru to his family and avoid going back to the situation of no return in Kashmir.
In a statement Ansari said, “Guru’s dead body in Delhi jail would prove to be more dangerous than was keeping him alive and its political repercussions should be examined.
In compliance with jail manual and CM Omar Abdullah’s request, Guru’s body should be given to the family, lest the matter should take ugly turns in Kashmir in the ensuing future. Let us not go to the point of no return” added Ansari.
It is pertinent to mention that the central government has received a representation from Guru’s family for handing over the body to them. But the government is yet to respond to the representation.
The representation was forwarded by the state government to the union government. Guru’s family today said the representation is not addressed to the government of India.
“We have not addressed the representation to anybody. We have simply told the authorities that since our family member was executed in Tihar jail, his body should be handed over to us so that the last rites are performed by us according to Islam. We had presented the representation to deputy commissioner, Baramulla,” they said.
They said they will wait for some time for the response of the government and chalk out their strategy only after that.
Almost all the separatist and most mainstream parties in Kashmir are demanding return of the body of Guru to his family. Syeda Asiya Andrabi, chairperson of Dukhtaran-e-Milat recently urged the separatists for a joint programme for the handing over of the body to Guru’s family.
