Johnson & Johnson parties support engineer Rashid’s release on bail to visit ailing father

SRINAGAR: The J&K party on Saturday rallied in support of Engineer Rashid, urging authorities to temporarily release him on humanitarian grounds, a day after a Delhi NIA court rejected jailed Baramulla MP’s bail plea to meet his critically ill father.“Engineer Rashid and I may have a million differences. We fight each other politically. But he should meet his father, who is seriously ill. It is his right,” said Sajjad Lone, chairman of the People’s Assembly.Rashid’s son Abrar said his grandfather Qazir Mohammed was on ventilator support in the intensive care unit of SMHS Hospital in Srinagar. “Granting short-term bail will not weaken the system. It will show balance and that the law will not turn a blind eye to human suffering. A man who spent years in Tihar jail asked only to spend his last hours with his father. Painfully, even this is denied. I hope compassion can be used in this critical situation. Some moments once lost can never be recovered. “Abrar said.Rashid, who has been jailed in Tihar since 2019, faces UAPA charges in a 2017 terrorist financing case probed by the National Intelligence Agency (NIA).National Conference (NC) MP Chowdry Mohammad Ramzan called on the Center to “consider releasing Rashid on humanitarian grounds”.Rashid’s Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) has pinned its hopes on “fairness and compassion” in the Delhi High Court, where the lawmaker’s regular bail plea will be filed on April 27. AIP expressed deep concern over the denial of interim relief and urged the authorities to consider Rashid’s status as a sitting MP from Baramulla, which consists of 18 parliamentary districts and accounts for nearly 40% of Kashmir’s population.Rashid was paroled earlier this year and can attend parliamentary budget sessions. He defeated NC’s Omar Abdullah by over 2 lakh votes in the 2024 LS polls from Baramulla. Omar won the assembly polls in J&K and became chief minister later that year.