Srinagar, June 23: Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party President Altaf Bukhari on Sunday accused the government of step-motherly treatment to jailed Engineer Rashid in allowing him to take oath as Member of Parliament.
Taking to a social media site ‘X’, Bukhari said, “Why the disparity in treatment of two public representatives? Aam Aadmi Party’s Sanjay Singh was released earlier this year to take oath as Rajya Sabha member and Er Rashid, despite getting a huge public mandate, isn’t being given any relief so far to take the oath as Member Parliament.”
“When will this step-motherly treatment to Kashmiris be over and New Delhi start treating people of J&K at par with the rest of the country? Leaving it to the conscience of GoI to see the different approaches when it comes to matters pertaining to Jammu and Kashmir,” he wrote.
Er Rashid, accused in an alleged money laundering case, continues to remain behind the bars for almost five years now.
A Delhi court on Saturday asked the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to respond by July 1 to an application filed by Engineer Rashid, arrested in a 2017 Jammu and Kashmir terror funding case, seeking interim bail to take oath as an MP.
Sheikh Abdul Rashid, popularly known as Engineer Rashid, defeated former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in Baramulla.
Additional Sessions Judge Kiran Gupta fixed the matter for hearing on July 1 and directed the NIA to file its reply by then.
During the hearing, the judge observed that the charges levelled against Rashid were on a different footing from those faced by AAP leader Sanjay Singh, an accused in the Delhi excise “scam” money laundering case.
