Er Rashid holds rallies in south Kashmir, castigates PDP, NC

Shopian/ Kulgam , Sep 14: Continuing his rallies in south Kashmir , Awami Itihad Party (AIP) head Er Rashid on Saturday launched a scathing attack on former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti.

“ She asked where all these people and vehicles come from,” Rashid said while addressing a rally in south Kashmir’s Shopian district. He said that he wanted to tell her these were the same people “who lifted you from the ground and place you in the sky.”

The AIP chief said that he walked out of Tihar jail after more than five years for speaking up for Kashmir and Kashmiris. “Wherefrom I receive money? Even I don’t have sandals”, he said. Rashid said that his workers were sincere and they did not need finances. “We can have our heads cut off, but we can’t bow them”, he said.

Rashid criticised both PDP and NC for supporting Lal Singh during the Lok Sabha elections. “ It is the same Lal Singh who stood by those involved in the Kathua rape case,”he said with chanting ‘shame’.

He said that over the last five years both these parties failed to take any step for the resolution of Kashmir issue or Article 370. “Over the last five years, I was dying in jail and now they call me an agent,” he said.

The AIP chief said that the banned Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) had made supreme sacrifices, but it should not beg before the government to lift the ban on it. Earlier in the day, he addressed capacity crowds in neighboring Kulgam district. Upbraiding the Mufti’s vision, Rashid, in Devsar Assembly segment, said that his vison was to bring BJP in Kashmir. He said that Mufti betrayed Kashmiris by stitching up an alliance with BJP and Mehbooba later continued it only to remain in power.

Launching a tirade on NC vice president Omar Abdullah, Rashid said that he had to remove his cap for becoming an MLA. “That too for an Assembly that had less powers than a municipality,” he said. Rashid said that if both Omar and Mehbooba would have spent a few months in jail, Modi ji would have restored article 370.

Criticising the BJP- led central government, Rashid said, “Home Minister says that he made thousands to surrender in Nagaland, but when it comes to Kashmir, he do not return even militant bodies.” He appealed to the people of south Kashmir to vote for the AIP candidates.