Srinagar- Sheikh Abdul Rashid, popularly known as Er Rashid, the head of the Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) and a parliamentarian from north Kashmir’s Baramulla, arrived in Kashmir on Thursday to a energetic reception by his supporters.
Rashid, who served five and a half years in Tihar Jail in connection with a terror funding case was released on interim bail from Tihar Jail on Wednesday for around three weeks. He arrived in Srinagar this morning to a grand welcome from hundreds of his supporters.
Known for his outspoken demeanor, the AIP leader went down on his knees and touched his forehead on the road after exiting the airport.
“Alhamdulillah, landed at the Srinagar airport,” Rashid wrote in a post on his official Facebook page upon his arrival. He was arrested on August 9, 2019, four days after the abrogation of Article 370.
Rashid was surrounded by his enthusiastic supporters and showered him with candies as he waved his hand to everyone on the way from Srinagar airport to his hometown in frontier Kupwara.
A Delhi court had on Tuesday granted interim bail until October 2 to the Lok Sabha MP Sheikh Abdul Rashid, to campaign for the Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir. Engineer Rashid had been lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail in a case of alleged terror funding since 2019.
Rashid, who contested the Lok Sabha election as an Independent, defeated National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah on Baramulla seat, He was granted parole to take oath as member of the Lok Sabha on July 5 this year.
Speaking to the media outside Srinagar Airport, Rashid advocated for a peaceful and meaningful resolution to the Kashmir dispute, which he claimed had been unresolved since 1947.
The north Kashmir MP also criticized the Prime Minister Narendra Modi for scrapping the special constitutional position of J&K under Article 370, asserting the people of Jammu and Kashmir find whatever choice Modi made on August 5, 2019, to be completely unacceptable.
“We are not begging for anything from anyone; rather, we just want to be treated as humans and allowed to live as such. Our main concern is the resolution of the Kashmir issue, which has been unsolved since 1947,”Rashid said.
The Kashmir dispute, which has so far resulted in the deaths of thousands of innocent people, according to the AIP leader, needs to be resolved in order to bring peace back to the subcontinent.
“No mother’s lap could be empty and no one could be imprisoned any longer. Power, whether as an MP or MLA, means nothing to me; what counts is the dignity, rights, and freedom of the Kashmiri people, which must be upheld, preserved, and respected,” he added.
Rashid in his message to the people of Kashmir exhorted them to not give up or be afraid since the truth is on their side, and that no power on earth, not even Amit Shah or Narendra Modi, could silence them.
“I want the people of my nation to know that we Kashmiris are not weak and that we will win because we have been standing up for the truth. We will not accept the decisions that Narendra Modi made on Aug 5, 2019. To accomplish this purpose, I will continue to oppose Modi Ji’s Naya Kashmir narrative for which I will be ready to spent rest of my life in Tihar jail,” Rashid said, adding, we want honor and dignity to be restored in J&K, and not peace of a graveyard, thus peace will come on our terms, not yours.
Regarding his strategy for the upcoming assembly elections in light of the criticism he has received from the NC and PDP accusing him of being a BJP proxy, he said “My cause is far greater than what Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Ji are currently wailing for, with all due respect. Their absence from sight for 5.5 years was the reason behind their defeat in the parliamentary elections”
Replying to a query about defeating Omar Abdullah with a huge margin of 2 lakh votes in Parliamentary elections, he said “I’m not glad for Omar Abdullah’s defeat, but happy that Modi Ji’s Naya Kashmir rhetoric was ruptured in north Kashmir. I salute the people of Kashmir, particularly the northerners.”
Will Support INDIA Bloc If They Promise Art 370 Restoration
Er Rashid said that he would support the INDIA bloc candidates in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections if the opposition group promises to restore Article 370 of the Constitution whenever they come to power at the Centre.
“If INDIA alliance assures us that it will restore Article 370 when it comes to power in Delhi, I will tell every candidate of mine to pledge each vote of their supporters for them,” Rashid said.
He said if India has to achieve the dream of being a global power, it will have to address the Kashmir issue.
“If India has to be Vishwaguru, Kashmir has to be resolved. If you (Modi) have a better solution, please tell us. You are saying that the other side (of Kashmir) wants to join this side. It may be true as well but how do we find out?” he asked.
The firebrand politician, who is facing charges of terror funding, said if he is being branded as a separatist for talking about resolution of the Kashmir issue, then the entire north Kashmir region was secessionist as they have voted for him.
“I want to make it clear that we are neither enemies of India, nor agents of Pakistan. We are agents of our conscience. Modi has snatched everything from us on August 5, 2019 — illegally and unconstitutionally,” he said.
He said Article 370 will not be restored by making statements inside the comfort of homes.
“How will 370 come back? You will have to protest at Lal Chowk and be ready to be hit by batons. But they (National Conference and PDP) cannot do it. When Amit Shah said no one can give back the statehood to Jammu and Kashmir except the BJP government, they did not even dare to say we will fight for it. It does not mean one has to be violent. Gandhiji did it through non violence,” he added.
He expressed pity over PDP president Mehbooba Mufti’s statement against him, saying she was deposed from the chair of the chief minister through a tweet by BJP leader Ram Madhav.
“Had Mehbooba resigned to protest the BJP plans to revoke Article 370, I would have said that she is a lioness. But she did not even know when Ram Madhav tweeted that the (PDP-BJP) government is no more,” he said.
He also claimed that National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah was aware in advance that the Centre is going to revoke Article 370.
Rashid hit out at those who tried to project that he won the Lok Sabha elections due to sympathy vote.
“The vote for me was not emotional outpouring. It was against Modi’s Naya Kashmir. It was a vote for work that I had done in Langate (assembly segment) on human rights and development,” he said, adding he had secured only 600 votes less than the runner up candidate in the 2019 assembly elections.
Rashid claimed that in the run up to the Lok Sabha polls, he was pressured to support “the BJP proxy in north Kashmir” but he refused and paid the price for it.
“I don’t want to add bitterness to the discourse… I was denied basic facilities available to (jail) inmates because I refused to support the BJP proxy, the candidate who came third (Sajad Lone). I was put in the ward of mental patients for one and half months. I have no regrets if this is the price to pay for truth,” he said.
Rashid also took potshots at National Conference leader and former chief minister Omar Abdullah.
“Had you (Omar) talked about people’s issues, you would not have needed to lower your cap in Ganderbal and contest from two seats,” he said.
The MP also predicted that both Peoples Conference president Sajad Lone and Omar Abdullah will lose the assembly elections from both seats that they are contesting.
While Lone is contesting from Handwara and Kupwara segments, Abdullah is a candidate from Ganderbal and Budgam seats.
Asked why is his detention any different from the incarceration of other mainstream politicians post abrogation of Article 370, Rashid said “comparing my five years in Tihar to (their) detention at SKICC is an injustice to my sacrifice”.
“All politicians were put in SKICC and I was singled out for Tihar. I would not wish even my enemy to see the door of that jail,” he added.
Rejects Sympathy Vote Claims
Engineer Rashid asserted that the “voice of Kashmiris cannot be silenced through oppression”.
Rashid said he wants to “make it clear to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi that the people of Kashmir know where their loyalties lie”.
“Today, it is evident that Engineer Rashid, along with Hurriyat leaders and the youth of Kashmir cannot be suppressed by jailing us,” he said.
The AIP chief rejected claims that his election success was based on sympathy votes. “The votes were not cast out of pity but were instead a powerful rejection of the Indian government’s policies in Kashmir,” he said.
Criticising the central government’s approach to Kashmir, Er Rashid referred to PM Modi’s “Naya Kashmir” narrative as a “drama” and said it had failed to address the real concerns of the Kashmiri people. “It was not a ‘New Kashmir’; it was a Kashmir of oppression, misery and draconian laws like UAPA,” he remarked, adding that the people of Kashmir will not compromise their faith or dignity. “Kashmir wants peaceful resolution, not continued oppression,” he added.
The Baramulla MP also dismissed allegations made by former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, who had questioned AIP’s funding sources. “This gathering is a response to her accusations. AIP is not funded by external forces. Our supporters spend their own money to back our cause,” he asserted, as the crowd raised their hands in solidarity.
He said Mufti should have apologized to the people, as it was the PDP that facilitated the BJP’s entry into Kashmir.
In a direct message to Home Minister Amit Shah, Er Rashid refuted claims that the situation in Kashmir had improved. “Kashmiris are not stone-pelters by choice, but we will not be silenced by any tactic,” he warned, urging the government to engage in meaningful dialogue with the people of Kashmir.
He cautioned that if the Government of India continues to ignore the “genuine aspirations” of Kashmiris, there will be “serious repercussions”.
The AIP chief said he will not bow to the policies “imposed” on the region, adding that responding to the remarks made by Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti would be a “disservice to the sacrifices of the people”.
“AIP’s cause is far removed from the pursuit of power and that engaging in such political discourse would undermine the people’s struggles,” he said.
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