Srinagar:: National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah on Friday urged the Centre to allow incarcerated Lok Sabha MP Sheikh Abdul Rashid to attend to his ailing father on humanitarian grounds, a party spokesman said.
Rashid, also known as Engineer Rashid, is currently lodged in Tihar jail in a UAPA case on terror funding charges. He was arrested in 2019 and successfully contested the Lok Sabha elections while being behind bars.
Abdullah’s appeal comes in view of the critical medical condition of Rashid’s father, Khazir Mohammad Sheikh, who is undergoing intensive treatment at SMHS Hospital here, the spokesman said.
The NC president emphasised that the circumstances warrant urgent and compassionate consideration by competent authorities.
Voicing concern over the precarious health condition of Rashid’s father, Abdullah said permitting the MP to be at his father’s bedside would be a humane and just course of action, in keeping with the principles of dignity and empathy.
The former chief minister of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir urged the concerned authorities to adopt a “considerate and magnanimous approach”, noting that decisions grounded in humanitarian considerations serve to uphold the highest ideals of justice and moral responsibility.
The NC chief expressed hope that the Centre would respond positively and take expeditious steps to facilitate the necessary arrangements. He also conveyed his prayers for the swift and complete recovery of the Baramulla MP’s father.
