“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…” This statement of Baramulla MP Engineer Rashid Antim has created a stir as soon as he came out of jail. He was in jail in a terror funding case. But he has been granted interim bail till October 2 to campaign for the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections.
Engineer Rashid’s real name is Sheikh Abdul Rashid. He is the founder of Jammu and Kashmir Awami Ittehad Party. He has been an MLA twice from Langate constituency of Jammu and Kashmir. He won from here in the years 2008 and 2014. He also contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, but lost. After this, in the last Lok Sabha elections, he contested and won from Baramulla seat as an independent candidate.
In 2008, Sheikh Abdul Rashid first came into the limelight as ‘Engineer Rashid’. He started his political innings after resigning from his government job. He won from Langate constituency after just 17 days of election campaign. In 2019, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested Rashid under the UAPA law on charges of terror funding. Since then, he was lodged in Tihar Jail.
According to a report by the Indian Express, on 30 May 2017, the NIA had registered a case against Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed and several other separatist leaders under Section 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC and various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (UAPA). They were accused of receiving and collecting money through hawala in connivance with terrorists.
Allegations of terror funding and separatism in Kashmir
According to the NIA, money was collected through hawala channels with active terrorists of terrorist organisations Hizbul Mujahideen, Dukhtaran-e-Millat, Lashkar-e-Taiba to finance terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir. Rashid was not named in the case at that time. He was not an accused in the NIA’s first chargesheet filed on January 18, 2018 or even in the supplementary chargesheet filed on January 22, 2019.
Accused made in supplementary charge sheet of NIA
Engineer Rashid was arrested on August 9, 2019, four days after the repeal of Article 370 and the removal of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status. He was detained along with three former chief ministers. He was named as an accused in the NIA’s second supplementary chargesheet filed on October 4, 2019. Along with him, Yasin Malik, Shabbir Shah, Masrat Alam and Asiya Andrabi were also made accused.
They have been propagating separatist ideology
According to the NIA, Engineer Rashid has been propagating the ideology of separatism. He used several public forums to incite people against the country. He wanted to legitimize the United Jihad Council (UJC), a platform of anti-India terrorist groups in Jammu and Kashmir. The NIA also cited an email sent by Khwaja Manzoor Ahmed Chishti to Yasin Malik.
‘Hawala dealer gave an envelope full of money’
This email revealed that Rashid was collecting funds through JKLF, which was being sent via courier to promote anti-national activities in the Valley. The NIA relied on the statement of a witness who claimed to have worked for Rashid from 2011 to 2014. He had seen hawala dealer Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali handing an envelope full of money to Rashid.
Follow us On Social Media Google News and Twitter/X