Srinagar, Sep 12: After getting interim bail from a Delhi court, Lok Sabha member Engineer Rashid reached J&K’s Srinagar on Thursday and started his campaign for the Assembly elections right away.
He hit out at Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti who have been alleging that Rashid has a pact with Centre. As he came out of the Srinagar International Airport, Rashid bowed his head on the road as a gesture of thanksgiving to Allah for being able to touch the soil of his home place after remaining in Tihar Jail for five years.
Engineer Rashid was granted interim bail by the Patiala House court till October 2 so that he could participate in the poll campaign for his party, the Awami Itihad Party (AIP).
Talking to reporters here, Rashid said, “This is my land”. When asked about the allegations levelled against him by Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti that he has been released by the BJP-led Central government to cut into the vote bank of the National Conference (NC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), he said: “I am fighting the battle which Omar and Mehbooba can’t fight.”
“My fight is much bigger than these two. I want self-respect, peace with dignity and not the peace of the graveyard. I will fight for my people who punctured Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s claims of ‘Naya Kashmir’ through their votes”, he said. Rashid left for Baramulla district where he will address a gathering later in the day.
The additional sessions judge, Chander Jit Singh while granting bail to him said in the court, “You will have to surrender on October 3”. Soon after his release in Delhi on Wednesday, Rashid alleged National Conference’s Omar Abdullah and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti have “destroyed” Kashmir.
Engineer Rashid fought Lok Sabha elections from Tihar Jail and he defeated former J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah by over two lakh votes while Sajad Lone of the Peoples Conference (PC) finished third in that election.
IANS