Omar fighting for chair, I’m fighting for people of Kashmir, says Engineer Rashid after walking out of Tihar

NEW DELHI/SRINAGAR: Baramulla MP Sheikh Abdul Rashid, popularly known as Engineer Rashid, walked out of Tihar jail a day after he was granted interim bail by a Delhi court to campaign for the J&K assembly elections, even as his plea for regular bail was on Wednesday deferred to Oct 5.

Rashid, who heads the Awami Ittehad Party (AIP), has been in prison since 2019 under UAPA in a 2017 terror funding case.

The court of additional sessions judge Chander Jit Singh had granted interim bail to Rashid on several conditions, which included not speaking to the media about the case, speaking to the investigation officer on alternate days via video-conference, and not tampering with evidence or influencing witnesses.

His release to participate in the poll campaign seems to have rattled mainstream parties in Kashmir, even as Rashid targeted both BJP and National Conference (NC) after coming out of prison. Talking to reporters, he vowed to fight against PM Narendra Modi’s “narrative of naya Kashmir”, and took a dig at NC vice-president Omar Abdullah, saying he was only concerned about coming to power.

“PM Modi’s narrative of ‘naya Kashmir’ has miserably failed. That was proved by the people of my constituency on June 4. The vote for me was actually a referendum against Modi’s narrative… I will fight against his narrative of ‘naya Kashmir’ and for the peaceful resolution of the Kashmir issue till my last breath,” he said.

Replying to a question about Omar, Engineer Rashid said Omar was fighting for the chair while his fight “is for my people”. “My fight is much bigger than what Omar Abdullah is fighting for. There is a difference between spending five years in London and spending this time in Tihar jail, where prisoners crave for medical attention,” said the Baramulla MP, who had defeated Omar in the parliamentary polls by over two lakh votes.

Rashid said he would go to the people to unite them, and not to divide them. “If that’s a crime, I am proud to commit this crime again and again. If I will have to spend my entire life in Tihar for this crime, I am ready,” he said. “I won’t exploit my people. Let youth study, businessmen do business; leave politics to us.”

BJP’s election in-charge for J&K, Ram Madhav, strongly responded to Rashid’s anti-Modi rhetoric. “This rank separatist, in jail for the last 5 years under UAPA for indulging in anti-India activities, is out on bail to further vitiate Valley politics. Look at the language… anti-Modi rants, restoring Article 370, freeing terrorists from jails… no different from what Omar or Mehbooba or even others… — the Gupkar Gang — are saying. He wants to defeat Modi’s dream of ‘naya Kashmir’. We accept the challenge. Naya Kashmir’s march will go on unrelentingly,” Madhav said in a post on X.

Reacting to Er Rashid’s release, Omar and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti insinuated that he and his party were being propelled by BJP to weaken the mainstream parties in Kashmir.

Talking to reporters in Kupwara, Omar said, “When Arvind Kejriwal was allowed to campaign, they (BJP) opposed the move and questioned how a person could be released from jail for electioneering, but today they welcomed the release of Er Rashid.”

Mehbooba said Rashid’s release raised doubts, and wondered how AIP seemed to have no dearth of money even when its leader was behind the bars, while her party was struggling to fund campaign rallies. “I am surprised to see AIP carrying out huge rallies in vehicles. Who is funding AIP?” she asked, while speaking to reporters in Shopian.

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