Engineer Rashid, jailed Member of Parliament from Kashmir, is planning to resign his seat citing inability to serve the people who elected him with a massive mandate. Rashid had defeated Omar Abdullah from the Baramulla parliamentary constituency by a margin of over two lakh votes in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
His party, the Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) said it would seek opinion of its cadres and a decision will be taken at a two-day consultative meeting of the party.
In a statement, AIP said Engineer Rashid wants to step down because he believes his prolonged detention has prevented him from serving people who elected him to represent Baramulla constituency in the Lok Sabha in the 2024 general elections.
Rashid, facing terror charges, has been in Tihar jail for the last seven years. He has said the allegations against him are unfounded and politically motivated.
According to the spokesman, AIP has held detailed deliberations on the issue and resolved to initiate a broad-based consultation process across all 18 assembly segments of the Baramulla constituency.
“After carefully examining all dimensions of the issue, the Committee on Political Affairs has decided that party functionaries at various levels will participate in a two-day consultative exercise to deliberate on whether Engineer Rashid should continue as a Member of Parliament or relinquish the position,” the party said in a statement.
According to the statement, the objective is to ensure that any decision regarding Engineer Rashid’s future as MP be “guided by the wishes and aspirations of the people who reposed their trust in him and the party”.
The stunning victory in the parliamentary elections had raised hopes among Rashid’s supporters that he may be released soon.
While he has been given temporary bail on different occasions — including conditional participation in parliament proceedings — Rashid appears to be frustrated over his continuous incarceration and has indicated to his party that he may resign soon, said a party leader.
