How could the independent lawmaker Er Rasheed have stopped himself from jumping into the fray? He had in fact every ‘right’ to do so because he spent seven days in police lockup after Afzal was hanged.
Rasheed called two press conferences in just a few days after Afzal’s hanging. He even has moved a resolution in the state legislature and has sought the support of both NC and PDP in order to get the body of Afzal. The resolution is likely to be discussed in the already started budget session of the assembly.
Rasheed was ‘interested in living Afzal’ as well, contrary to NC and PDP, who “sabotaged” the resolution last year in the state assembly favouring the acceptance of his mercy plea submitted by his wife, Tabassum.
State congress did not open its cards. It is worried that to support the central policy would affect the party in the coming elections and if it chooses to take the path of its coalition partner in the state, the stance will be unacceptable to the party high command again for the same electoral reasons. So, the state congress has opted for ‘wait and watch’ policy.
The hanging of Afzal Guru has really changed the political discourse in Kashmir valley. It is for sure that not only separatists but the pro-India parties like National Conference (NC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will be raising the slogans of “martyrs” in the coming elections.
Meanwhile the issue of return of Afzal’s body rocked the budget session of the assembly on the second consecutive day. Members of the principal opposition PDP, supported by Er Rasheed, Hakim Yasin and few other members disrupted the proceedings by raising slogans in favour of the return of Afzal’s body.
The separatists always appeal the people to “remember the sacrifices of the martyrs” and now the pro-Indians have started asking India for the remains of the same “martyrs”.
For 12 years the family of Afzal waited and wondered about his fate as he sat on death row. Three weeks ago they came to know through media that Mohammad Afzal Guru had been hanged in secrecy in Tihar jail of Delhi. A government letter informing them of the imminent hanging arrived at their home two days after he was dead.
Guru was convicted in the 2001 attack on India’s Parliament when five heavily armed gunmen entered the high-security parliament complex and opened fire. Eight police personnel were killed before the five attackers were shot and killed.
“The world’s biggest democracy did not even have the courtesy to inform us,” said Yasin Guru, the cousin of Afzal.
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