JK News Today
Srinagar, June 23: Apni Party chief Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari on Sunday accused the Government of India of unleashing discriminatory treatment to Kashmiris by spotlighting the continuous imprisonment of Abdul Rashid Sheikh Engineer Rashid who was elected from Baramulla constituency of north Kashmir in the recently held parliamentary elections.
“Why this disparity in treatment of two public representatives?” wrote Altaf Bukhari on his X handle to draw parallels and discrimination between the treatment meted out to Aam Adami Party’s Sanjay Singh who was released early this year to take oath as Rajya Sabha member and Engineer Rashid despite getting a huge public mandate. It was a reminder to the Government of India as also to the public opinion makers in the country to look at this discrepancy.
https://x.com/SMAltafBukhari/status/1804766503902068753
Altaf Bukhari has raised a larger issue by making Engineer Rashid’s continuous detention and refusal to allow him to take oath in Lok Sabha a case in point. It is aimed at stirring the conscience of the country that prides itself as mother of democracy in which right to equality is enshrined in the fundamental rights of the Indian constitution. How can there be two sets of treatment for same category of people. While Sanjay Singh’s release is facilitated to take oath as MP in Rajya Sabha, but Engineer Rashid will stay in jail when all other MPs elect would be taking oath in 18th Lok Sabha.
His premise is that why this relief is not being extended to Engineer Rashid. “When will this step-motherly to Kashmiris be over and when New Delhi start treating people of J&K at par with the rest of the country,” Ani Party chief Bukhari questioned.
All these years since the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019, the national leadership has been telling the nation that it has integrated J&K into India and it is all set to win hearts and minds of the people of Kashmir to unveil vision of real and emotionally rich narratives and action. But, here Apni Party that has mandated itself and told its followers that Delhi alone can resolve all issues, is pleading that let Government of India treat people of Kashmir as Indians as the citizens in the rest of the country are treated. In a way, he is suggesting that such disparity between the people elsewhere in the country and Kashmiris will have adverse effect.
It is with this thought to remind Delhi that it is constitutionally bound to treat all Indians from Kashmir to Kanyakumari as equals and left the matter to the conscience of the government, as he concluded with the words, “Leaving it to the conscience of GOI to see the different approaches when it comes to matters pertaining to Jammu and Kashmir.”
