Jammu and Kashmir police on Friday detained jailed Baramulla MP Sheikh Abdul Rashid’s son and several members of his Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) from launching a hunger strike in solidarity with him.
Rashid is lodged in the Tihar jail where he reportedly started a hunger strike early on Friday for not being allowed to attend the budget session in Parliament.
Delhi High Court had on Thursday sought the National Investigation Agency's response to Rashid’s plea seeking interim bail to attend the session.
The MP's son Abrar Rashid and his brother and Langate MLA Sheikh Rashid, supported by AIP workers, tried to sit on a hunger strike outside Srinagar’s media enclave on Friday to express support for the jailed leader. The police swooped on the protest site and forcibly took away Abrar and other agitators to the nearby police station.
“A funeral of democracy is being staged. We will raise our voices against the oppression. A member of Parliament is not allowed to visit Parliament. We want him to be freed,” Abrar said.
Rashid was elected to the Lok Sabha from Baramulla constituency last year. He defeated Omar Abdullah, now the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, and People’s Conference president Sajad Gani Lone.
MP’s legislator brother Khurshid said they were not getting justice from the courts and the administration. “Engineer Rashid started his hunger strike in Tihar at 10.30am. We had moved an application here to allow us to join the hunger strike at Pratab Park in solidarity. But for unknown reasons, the administration did not allow it,” he said.
Khurshid said security checkpoints had been set up at various places on the way to Srinagar to detain their men. “They are crushing democracy and dissent. This is not democracy. It is the army and police raaj,” he said.
The Langate MLA said the government should suggest an alternative spot if they had reservations against a hunger strike outside the media enclave.
“We are moving a fresh application before the administration for permission. We want to ask chief minister Omar sahab whether this was democracy,” he said.
