NC cries foul over hanging; Nath calls all-party meet

In an embarrassment for the UPA a day ahead of the budget session, ally National Conference (NC) on Wednesday slammed the Centre for hanging Afzal Guru in a "secretive manner".

In an embarrassment for the UPA a day ahead of the budget session, ally National Conference (NC) on Wednesday slammed the Centre for hanging Afzal Guru in a "secretive manner".

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Raising the issue at the Lok Sabha Speaker's meeting with all parties, NC's Sharifuddin Shariq said that Guru's family should have been airlifted and brought to the Tihar jail to allow them to meet him for the last time.

"A wrong thing has been done in a secretive manner. His family has suffered for the past 10 years since he was in the jail," he said.

Shariq's remarks assume significance as it reflected the growing unease in the NC camp over the execution. Another party MP Mohammad Shafi had voiced similar concerns at the chief whips meeting on Tuesday. Significantly, NC president and Union minister Farooq Abdullah stayed away from the Speaker's meeting.

Meanwhile, parliamentary affairs minister Kamal Nath has convened another all-party meeting on Thursday-the third in as many days-to resolve other contentious issues like how to probe the chopper scam and if key bills can be passed without the review by standing committees.