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The timing of the hanging of Afzal Guru, convicted for the 2001 attack on Parliament house, smacks of political cynicism: Guru has been hanged just before the Budget session of Parliament is to start. Ajmal Kasab, convicted of the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai, was similarly hanged days before the winter session of Parliament. These executions, the ruling Congress and the government seem to believe, will take the wind out of the Hindutva brigade's allegation that the Congress is soft on terror. It forgets that Guru's hanging will also increase tensions in Kashmir. There, curfew has been declared in all 10 districts and police has fired on protestors trying to break the curfew, especially in Sopore, from where Guru hails. Cynical political moves, like the decision to hang Guru, finally end up...