Workers and leaders of the Awami Itihaad Party (AIP) staged a protest in Srinagar today to mark six years of the imprisonment of their president and Baramulla Member of Parliament, Abdul Rashid Sheikh, popularly known as Engineer Rashid.
The protesters demand release of the jailed MP.
The party said the protest began near Sangarmal Complex and it was not allowed by police to proceed towards Lal chowk. The protesters were shouting slogans like “justice for Er Rashid”
and “release all political prisoners.”
AIP chief spokesperson Inam un Nabi, said that despite being caged for six long years, Er Rashid continues to rule the hearts of the people of Jammu & Kashmir, a testament to his honesty, courage and unwavering stand for truth.”
Inam strongly attacked the National Conference (NC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leadership, accusing them of “shameless silence” over the plight of hundreds of Kashmiris in jails.
“Here in Kashmir, they shed crocodile tears and fight for petty political survival, but in Delhi, Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti are busy enjoying lavish dinners with the Congress leadership without uttering a single word on the plight of Kashmiris languishing in jails including their fellow colleague MP Er Rashid, the same Congress that has betrayed and deceived the people of Kashmir time and again,” he said.
AIP MLA Sheikh Khursheed termed the protest an appeal to the authorities”to release Er Rashid and others incarcerated in and outside Jammu & Kashmir.
“When the killers of the Pahalgam attack have been neutralised, why are those arrested in its aftermath still behind bars? If the government claims the situation has improved since 2019, then why not release them” he asked.
Khursheed also blasted NC and PDP for “using the pain of the Kashmiri people as a political bargaining chip,” adding, “When it comes to real issues like the illegal incarceration of Kashmiris, even Sajad Lone disappears. His politics begins and ends with his own chair.”
