Pak parliament passes resolution against Guru's hanging

Trying to fish in troubled waters, Pakistan's parliament on Thursday passed a resolution condemning the hanging of Afzal Guru and demanded the return of his body to his family.         

Two days before it completes its five-year term, the National Assembly or lower house of parliament passed the resolution moved by Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who heads a special parliamentary panel on Kashmir.         

Besides condemning the hanging of Guru, 2001 Parliament attack convict, the resolution expressed concern at the situation created in Jammu and Kashmir by the execution.         

The House called for Guru's body to be handed over to his family. Guru was hanged and buried within Tihar Jail in Delhi in February. His execution triggered protests in Jammu and Kashmir.         

Pakistan-based terror groups like the Lashkar-e-Tayiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed have vowed to take revenge for the hanging. The parliamentary resolution further said the international community should not remain as silent spectators in efforts to find a solution to the Kashmir dispute.         

It said steps should be taken to implement the United Nations Security Council's resolutions on the Kashmir issue. The resolution called for an end to alleged killings in Jammu and Kashmir and the removal of the army from towns and cities of the Kashmir Valley.         

It further said all prisoners should be freed, "black laws" repealed and curfew withdrawn from the region.