By Gulam Jeelani
Who is Engineer Rashid? Why has his interim bail in assembly poll season angered many in Kashmir?
Rashid has been let out for campaigning in the upcoming assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir. The three-phased polls in the Union Territory end on October 1 and the results will be declared on October 8.
Rashid’s Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) has fielded 34 candidates in the assembly elections. His younger brother, Khurshid Ahmad Sheikh, is also a candidate from Langate seat in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district. Rashid, who has been in jail since 2019 in a terror-funding case, has been an MLA from Langate seat twice.
Rashid’s entry into the assembly poll campaign is expected to give a big boost to his party in assembly elections, more so since he is now an elected MP in Lok Sabha.
Defeated Omar Abdullah
Abdul Rashid Sheikh, popularly known as Engineer Rashid, is a former two-time MLA from Langate seat in north Kashmir.
Fifty-seven-year-old Rashid was in the news during the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 when he defeated former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah by over two lakh votes in the Baramulla seat in north Kashmir.
Rashid's win is a shocker since he contested the elections from Tihar jail, where he has been for the last five years facing charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act(UAPA). Rashid contested the election as an independent candidate and unlike in assembly elections he was not allowed to campaign during Lok Sabha polls.
The other candidate from the Baramulla seat was Jammu and Kashmir People’s Conference (JKPC) chief, Sajad Lone.
Rashid won the Baramulla seat with 472,481 votes, almost double the number of votes polled by Abdullah and Lone combined. After his victory, Rashid was given court permission to take oath as an MP.
Separatist-turned-mainstream politician
Before joining mainstream politics in 2008, he was a close aide of slain Hurriyat leader and JKPC founder Abdul Gani Lone, father of Sajad Lone. He had joined the People’s Conference, founded by Abdul Gani Lone in 1978.
Remember, the People’s Conference was then part of the separatist political camp and contested the assembly elections as part of the Muslim United Front in 1987. Rashid later shunned separatist politics and joined the government service as a civil engineer.
Rashid made a formal entry into mainstream politics in 2008 when he won assembly elections from the Langate assembly seat in Kupwara district. He won from the seat again in the 2014 assembly elections.
Later he established the Awami Ittehad Party, not yet recognized as a political party by the Election Commission of India (ECI). Rashid had also contested during the 2019 parliamentary elections form Baramulla, but lost. Akbar Lone of the National Conference had won the seat then.
Commoner Image
Rashid is known for carrying a commoner image and raising issues that strike a chord with the masses. Seen dressed in Pathan suits and pheran- the Kashmiri woolen gown – Rashid resonated among youth during elections. It was Rashid’s campaign against alleged forced labour by the India Army in Langate helped him win two assembly polls, according to reports.
Rashid was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), in August 2019, soon after the abrogation of Article 370, in a case of terror funding.
In the run-up to Lok Sabha elections, his two sons led his campaign, drawing large crowds as they sought votes for their jailed father. Supported by the Democratic Progressive Azad party, led by former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, Engineer Rashid's posters, showing him in prison, were commonplace in the election campaign.
"This is both an emotional and proud moment,” Abrar Rashid, one of Engieer Rashid's son said on Tuesday after the interim bail order.
Rashid is charged with criminal conspiracy in a 2017 case against separatist leaders of ‘receiving and collecting’ funds through hawala channels, in ‘connivance with active militants of proscribed terrorist organizations Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, Dukhtaran-e-Millat, Lashkar-e-Toiba’, to fund ‘terrorist activities’ in Jammu and Kashmir, according to a report in Indian Express.
Rashid was not named initially. His name did not feature among the 12 accused in the agency’s first chargesheet in the case, filed on January 18, 2018. However, Rashid’s name surfaced in the subsequent investigation. He was arrested on August 9, 2019 – four days after the Bhartiya Janata Party government at the Centre abrogated Article 370 of Jammu and Kashmir.
In a supplementary chargesheet filed on October 4, 2019, the NIA named five people, including Rashid and Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chief Yasin Malik.
Timing Questioned
Jammu and Kashmir’s mainstream politicians have questioned the timing of Rashid’s bail. Both the NC and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have smelled foul and claimed that the BJP has some sort of a deal with the AIP, along with other smaller parties.
PDP chief and former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti had on Monday asked how the AIP was getting the resources to field so many candidates.
This is both an emotional and proud moment,” said Abrar Rashid, Engineer Rashid's son, after the interim bail order.
Mehbooba’s rival Omar raised similar concerns. “We were aware that it would happen. I feel regret for the people of the Baramulla seat as this bail has not been granted to serve them or attend Parliament… but to fetch votes here. After that, he will be taken back to Tihar (Jail) and the people of north Kashmir will again be without a representative,” he said.
According to political analysts, Rashid’s presence will boost the campaign of AIP candidates ahead of polls. Some said that AIP will potentially damage the electoral prospects of NC candidates in many north Kashmir seats.
Rashid, however, says the otherwise. ""I am a victim of BJP, I will fight against PM Modi's ideology till my last breath.I am coming to Kashmir to unite my people, not to divide them," he said after walking out of Tihar jail in the national capital on Wednesday.
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