Engineer Rashid, MP from Baramulla seat of Jammu and Kashmir, has come out of jail on interim bail. Delhi’s Patiala Court has granted interim bail to Rashid till 2 October 2024 in the terror funding case. This bail has been given to him to campaign for the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections. However, he had sought interim bail for 3 months. The order on his regular bail plea is still pending. On coming out of jail, Sheikh Abdul Rashid, popularly known as Engineer Rashid, said, “I will not disappoint my people. I swear that I will fight PM Modi’s ‘Naya Kashmir’ narrative, which has completely failed in Jammu and Kashmir. Whatever he did on 5 August 2019, people have rejected it. I am committed to work for the welfare of my people. I would like to tell Modi ji not to be afraid and do not scare me”
He said that we are not going to be afraid. My fight is bigger than what Omar Abdullah says. His fight is for the chair, my fight is for the people. For me, the issue is not the government, but Kashmir. I am a victim of the BJP, I will fight against PM Modi’s ideology till my last breath. I am coming to Kashmir to unite my people, not to divide them. We want a peaceful solution to the Kashmir issue. I am not concerned with NDA or India alliance in the elections. I have nothing to do with anyone.”
Interim bail has been granted on these conditions
Mehbooba Mufti targeted Engineer Rashid
People’s Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday said that only her party advocates a solution to the Kashmir issue and raises voice for the youth “locked in jails”. Targeting the Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) of jailed Baramulla MP Engineer Rashid (Sheikh Abdul Rashid), she said that a person in jail is contesting elections while the family of a poor person is not allowed to meet their relatives in jails. She said, “On one hand, the parents of a poor person in jail are not allowed to meet him, but on the other hand, some people are contesting elections from jail, forming parties, providing them vehicles and security. When they attack our candidate, the police do not take action against them. On the other hand, the Election Commission sends notices to our candidate. This tells you about the person contesting elections from inside the jail, whose side he is on.”
Omar Abdullah also took a dig at Rashid’s bail
Here, Omar Abdullah has also targeted Engineer Rashid and called him an ally of BJP. National Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah said on Tuesday that jailed MP Engineer Rashid has been granted bail to take votes from the people of Kashmir, not to serve them. He said that after the elections, Engineer Rashid will be taken back to Tihar (jail) and the people of North Kashmir will once again be without representation. Let us tell you that Rashid had contested the Lok Sabha elections from jail and defeated Omar Abdullah from Baramulla seat.
However, Abdullah said it remains to be seen how voters will react to Rashid’s interim bail and what impact it will have on the elections. When asked about People’s Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti calling Engineer Rashid’s Awami Ittehad Party a proxy of the BJP, Omar Abdullah said he is very cautious on the issue. He said, ‘It is good that Mehbooba has openly said what a lot of people agree with.’
Rashid is in jail since 2019
Let us tell you that Rashid defeated former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah from Baramulla by a huge margin in the Lok Sabha elections while in jail. He won the election by contesting as an independent. Now the Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) led by him is going to contest the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir elections. On July 5 this year, the court granted custody parole to Rashid to take oath after winning the Lok Sabha elections. Rashid has been in jail since 2019, when he was arrested by the NIA in the 2017 terror-funding case. Rashid was lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail. His name came up during the investigation of Kashmiri businessman Zahoor Watali, who was arrested by the NIA for allegedly funding terrorist groups and separatists in the Valley.
The NIA had filed a chargesheet in the case against several people, including Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik, Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed and Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin. Malik was sentenced to life imprisonment by a trial court in 2022 after being convicted of the charges.
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