ibn sultan
SRINAGAR: Incarcerated Baramulla MP Engineer Rashid has announced a one-day symbolic hunger strike inside Tihar Jail on November 28, alleging that the constitutional rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir have been “bulldozed” since August 2019.
The declaration was made in a handwritten letter addressed to the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and released on Wednesday by Awami Itihaad Party (AIP) Chief Spokesperson Inam Un Nabi.
Engineer Rasheed moving out of Tihar Jail on September 11, 2024.
In a letter, Er Rashid says commemorating Constitution Day holds little meaning for Kashmiris when their “liberty and rights have been curtailed,” their state “broken into pieces,” and their elected representative “jailed.”
He said it felt like “mocking both the Constitution and ‘We the People of Jammu and Kashmir’” when a Kashmiri version of the Constitution was released amid what he described as sweeping curbs on democratic rights.
The jailed MP questioned how “the majority in Parliament can be used to bulldoze and dilute the Preamble of the Constitution” and called on the government to explain actions he claims undermine constitutional norms.
He warned that policies justified in the name of national interest — including demolitions, custodial deaths, removal of the Chief Justice of India from the committee to nominate the Chief Election Commissioner, the incarceration of Kashmiris, and the strengthening of laws such as the UAPA — would give “Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar sleepless nights in the eternal world.”
Er Rashid alleged that the Constitution was “already being rewritten” and urged citizens across India to demand the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s constitutional rights “snatched on 5 August 2019.”
He said his symbolic strike was intended to highlight “the wounds of the people of J&K” ahead of Constitution Day.
The AIP said the letter reflects “the honest conscience of an elected representative being denied his constitutional space” and underscores growing disquiet over the treatment of political voices from the Union Territory.
