Jailed MP Rashid on 24-hour hunger strike in Tihar

Jailed Lok Sabha MP and Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) chief Sheikh Abdul Rashid, popularly known as Engineer Rashid, began a 24-hour hunger strike inside Tihar Jail on Saturday evening, his party said.

Rashid is observing the strike to protest the “continued denial of democratic rights to Kashmiris,” the AIP stated.

Leaders of the AIP in Kashmir also joined the hunger strike in solidarity. “We are holding a hunger strike to support our party president, who has been languishing in jail since 2019. We want to draw attention to the plight of hundreds of Kashmiris still detained in Tihar and other prisons under draconian laws,” said AIP general secretary Prince Parvaiz.

“It is unfortunate that the political parties who claim to represent Kashmir are hesitant to speak about the Kashmiri prisoners and their sufferings,” he added.

“Engineer Rashid feels the pain of these prisoners and their families, as he himself is a victim. We are morally bound to stand with him and support his call. This hunger strike is our way of showing solidarity with our leader,” Parvaiz said.

AIP chief spokesperson Inam Un Nabi confirmed that the North Kashmir MP began his hunger strike on Saturday evening. He said that several AIP leaders across Jammu and Kashmir—including general secretary Prince Parvaiz, chairman of the political affairs committee Ishtiyaq Qaderi, senior leader Firdous Baba, state secretary Sheikh Ashiq, Pattan in-charge Mohammad Akbar, and Advocate Dawood from Lolab—have also joined the hunger strike.

According to the AIP, Rashid’s protest is meant to remind the “people of India that while debates continue about the Emergency of 1975 and the suppression of dissent under the Modi government, the ongoing denial of rights to Kashmiris since the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019, must not be forgotten.”