Srinagar:
The Jammu and Kashmir Assembly will on Monday discuss the execution of Afzal Guru and his family's demand for return of his body. Assembly Speaker Mubarak Gul has accepted the adjournment motions moved by the ruling National Conference and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party or PDP and allowed a discussion.
The decision has put the Congress, a partner in the coalition government in the state, in a tight spot. Sources said Congress legislators were not in favour of a discussion on Guru and fear that its outcome may affect the party in the state and at the national level.
Guru was hanged and buried at Delhi's Tihar Jail on February 9 after the President rejected his mercy petition. His family expressed outrage, saying they were never informed. A letter from Tihar authorities about the execution reached Guru's family two days after he was hanged.
Political parties in Jammu and Kashmir have criticised Guru's execution as hasty and backed his family's demand that they have a right to get his body for last rites.
The issue has rocked the state assembly as well. On Friday, the House had to be adjourned amid uproarious scenes when PDP legislators, led by chief Mehbooba Mufti, demanded a discussion on Guru.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who fears alienation of Kashmiri youth after the hanging, says he has requested the Prime Minister for the return of Guru's body to his family.