Srinagar: A day ahead of the counting of votes and possible announcement of election results, Lok Sabha member from Baramulla Sheikh Abdul Rashid alias Engineer on Monday appealed to opposition parties in Jammu and Kashmir to delay government formation so as to put pressure on the Centre for restoration of statehood.
“Irrespective of who gets the majority tomorrow, my humble request to the INDIA bloc, PDP and other regional parties is that they should unite for statehood. They should not form a government till statehood is restored,” Rashid told reporters here.
Rashid, who heads the Awami Ittehad Party (AIP), said that every regional party is aware of the fact that the new Legislative Assembly will have limited powers as long as Jammu and Kashmir remains a Union territory under the federal government’s control.
The north Kashmir MP encouraged all regional parties, including the INDIA bloc allies, to at least come together on the restoration of J&K’s statehood before the formation of the next government.
The regional parties and Congress should unite and tell the BJP-led Centre in one voice to restore statehood.
“The government formation can be delayed to put pressure on the Centre for restoring the statehood. The political parties should be united to tell the union government. The AIP is ready to co-operate with them on this issue. Every voter wants this,” he added.
Rashid lashed out at the decision to give powers to the Lieutenant Governor for nomination of five members to the Legislative assembly.
“The Modi government removed the special status of Jammu and Kashmir only to create special provisions for it. If the integration is complete, why is Jammu and Kashmir being made special by keeping provision of nominations. Nowhere in the country there is a provision for nominations. Why here?” he asked.
Asserting that any nomination to an elected legislature is against the spirit of democracy, the AIP president said if the Centre is keen on nominating people from various communities, it should revive the Legislative Council.
“Why have nominations for Kashmiri Pandits or West Pakistan refugees? And if there are nominations for them, then what about the Muslims in Gujarat and elsewhere in the country? Why are no Muslims nominated to the Parliament? Why are there no Muslims in the union cabinet?” he asked.
Rashid also criticised the Election Commission of India for not granting registration to his party saying those who have no base in Jammu and Kashmir, have already been registered by the poll body.
“We have contested polls for five years under the name of AIP. We had good performances in 2019 and this year’s Lok Sabha polls as well. Why are we not given registration? The DPAP and Apni Party have been given registration without any performance. It is a question on the credibility of the ECI,” he said.
Rashid also questioned the rationale of dividing the assets of erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir state equally between the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
“Jammu and Kashmir has a population of two crore people while Ladakh has four lakh. The Jammu and Kashmir House in Delhi has been divided equally between two union territories. I want to know why?” he asked.
He also demanded restoration of Darbar Move practice in Jammu and Kashmir saying it created a cultural and emotional attachment between the two regions.
He also demanded action against controversial Yati Narsinghanand for his alleged blasphemous remarks against the Prophet of Islam (PBUH).
“You know Yati Narsinghanand has again indulged in blasphemy… It does not affect us because the Prophet lives in our hearts. We are ready to sacrifice everything for his name. But I want to ask Modi if people have been booked under PSA for social media posts, why is Yati not booked?” he added.
Reacting to People’s Conference president Sajad Gani Lone’s claims that the newspaper articles published in the name of Engineer Rashid were written by him, the AIP chief said his north Kashmir rival should be jailed for this confession.
“I cannot comment on the merits of the case against me due to court orders. However, I am facing prosecution because one allegation is that my articles propagated separatism. Sajad Lone is making a confession and he should be put in jail,” he added.
Lone, in an interview to a local newspaper, claimed that the articles published in the name Rashid before he joined politics were actually written by the PC president. (With additional inputs from PTI)
