Srinagar: Lok Sabha MP Sheikh Abdul Rashid on Friday said his struggle is not against the National Conference (NC) or People’s Democratic Party (PDP) but is focused on the broader cause of restoring Jammu and Kashmir’s special status which was revoked by the Centre in August 2019.
Rashid, the MP from Baramulla and popularly known as Engineer Rashid, targeted NC vice president Omar Abdullah and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti, for their alleged double standards.
“Our fight is not against NC and PDP. Our fight is based on the restoration of Article 370 and Article 35A. Our goal is the resolution of the Kashmir issue, which these leaders (of NC & PDP) have consistently sidelined,” Rashid said, addressing a public rally in the Anantnag district of south Kashmir.
“Our so-called regional leaders, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, were quick to congratulate Arvind Kejriwal on his bail from the Supreme Court, yet they criticized my interim bail,” Rashid said.
“They hold sit-ins in Delhi and other places for the release of Kejriwal, but have never organized any sit-in or protest in favour of Kashmiris languishing in jails inside and outside Kashmir. They have never spoken up for my detention in Tihar either,” he said.
He also criticized Mufti’s tenure as the chief minister, particularly her treatment of south Kashmir.
“The people of south Kashmir once placed their trust in Mufti and voted for her. But when she came to power, she bruised the people of Kashmir in general, and south Kashmir in particular. She used pellets, bullets, and filled jails with the very people who voted for her,” Rashid said.
Rashid walked out of Tihar Jail on Wednesday, after a court granted him interim bail till October 2 in a terror funding case so that he can campaign in the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir Assembly polls.
He had been in jail since 2019 following his arrest by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in the 2017 terror funding case.

  Election, Er Rashid, Kashmir, Kashmir 370

KR Desk