Srinagar: Jailed Lok Sabha MP Sheikh Abdul Rashid will observe a 24-hour hunger strike inside the Tihar jail to protest the “continued denial of democratic rights” to Kashmiris, his Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) said on Friday.
Rashid, popularly known as Engineer Rashid, will observe the hunger strike from 8 pm on Saturday to 8 pm on Sunday.
“Amid the ongoing political slugfest between the BJP and the Congress over the 1975 Emergency and allegations of authoritarianism, the jailed MP has announced that he will observe a 24-hour hunger strike inside Tihar Jail in protest of the continued denial of democratic rights to Kashmiris,” the AIP said.
The hunger strike also seeks to highlight the “deafening silence” of the national parties about hundreds of Kashmiris languishing in the Tihar jail and other prisons under “draconian” laws like the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) merely for holding political beliefs, the AIP said in a statement.
The party said Rashid conveyed the decision during a recent meeting with his family, asserting that the “hypocrisy of both the BJP and the Congress in accusing each other of throttling democracy must be exposed”.
“It is unfortunate that both parties are leaving no stone unturned to accuse each other of bulldozing liberty, freedom and fundamental rights during their respective regimes.
“Yet, both are partners in crime when it comes to snatching the constitutional, democratic and human rights of Kashmiris,” the jailed MP has told his family.
“While the BJP is correctly highlighting the atrocities committed during the 1975 Emergency, it conveniently forgets how it has treated Kashmiris over the past 11 years — jailing legitimate political voices, silencing dissent and branding political belief as criminality,” he said.
The party quoted Rashid as having said the Congress and others, on the other hand, accuse Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government of imposing an undeclared emergency but remain silent about the hundreds of Kashmiris languishing in Tihar and other prisons under draconian laws like UAPA, simply for their political beliefs.
“Engineer Rashid’s hunger strike aims to remind the people of India that while heated debates rage over past and present emergencies, the continued and systematic denial of rights to Kashmiris since the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019, cannot and must not be forgotten,” the party said in the statement.
He has formally communicated his intention to the jail authorities regarding the proposed hunger strike, the party added.
