Return Afzal Guru’s body to kin: Pakistan lower house

Islamabad : Pakistan’s lower house of parliament Thursday passed a resolution demanding that the body of Indian parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, who was executed in February, be handed over to his family members in Jammu and Kashmir for proper burial, media reports said.

Afzal Guru, who was hanged to death Feb 9 after remaining on death row for about eight years, was found guilty of plotting the attack on the Indian parliament Dec 13, 2001. He was buried in Delhi’s Tihar jail.

The resolution was moved in the National Assembly by Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, as the house demanded an end to “atrocities” against innocent Kashmiris and give them their internationally recognised right to decide their future, the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) reported.

“This house demands that India should stop brutal actions against Kashmiries and atrocities inflicted on innocent people who were protesting the execution of Kashmiri leader Afzal Guru,” said the resolution read by Rehman.

The house resolved that Pakistan will continue supporting political, moral and diplomatic support of the peaceful, just and inalienable right of Kashmiris to self-determination and their struggle waged within the ambit of the UN Charter and according to UN Security Council resolutions on Kashmir.

The National Assembly also called upon the Indian government to lift the curfew from Jammu and Kashmir, repeal “black laws” imposed on Kashmiri people, ensure freedom of media and allow free exercising of religious practices as enshrined in UN resolutions and charters, the newspakistan.pk website reported.

The resolution emphasised that the Kashmir issue was not an internal affair of India.

It said the international community and UN Security Council should not remain oblivious to this issue and play their role in its resolution in light of UN resolutions.