Former J&K lawmaker Eng. Rasheed denies involvement in terror funding, anti-national activities
Srinagar: Engineer Sheikh Abdur Rasheed, a former independent lawmaker of Jammu and Kashmir, has denied his involvement in anti-national activities including terror funding and said that the charges levelled against him are “absolutely fake and irrelevant” and that he is being “victimized” only for his political belief.
“I have never even once met or contacted any of the accused but one in the (terror funding) case physically, through phone call, mail or social media. I’m, perhaps, the only Kashmiri politician who has not visited Pakistan nor has had any sort of communication either through phone or any other platform with anyone from that place,” Eng. Rasheed who is lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail since August 2019 was quoted as saying by his family on Saturday.
He has, however, admitted to meeting one of the accused in the alleged money laundering and error funding case in which the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had some time ago framed charges against over a dozen Kashmiri separatists, a businessman and co-founder of Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) and the chief of Jama'at-ud-Da'wah Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen chief Muhammad Yusuf Shah alias Syed Salahuddin under various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 and the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Eng. Rasheed has while justifying his meeting the accused businessman Zahoor Ahmed Shah Watali “on a few occasions”, said that the latter “enjoyed a lot of respect in the society” and that the same had “nothing to do with politics”.
A special NIA court had in March 2022 while ordering for framing charges in the money laundering case against Rasheed and others noted that one of the witnesses has connected him to Watali who in turn is closely intertwined with separatist All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) and Pakistani establishment and agencies.
However, the former MLA has claimed that the probe agency has produced only two Facebook videos, two statements which he had issued to media ten years back, one tweet and two protected witnesses as evidence against him.
His family said that he was represented in the special court by senior lawyer Colin Gonsalves and his team “but unfortunately he went almost unrepresented on the day when charges were framed, as his lawyer could not reach the court due to his important assignment”.
It alleged that Eng. Rasheed is being victimised because he had been demanding a durable resolution to the Kashmir problem, was raising a strong voice against human rights abuses by the state and non-state actors and had been demanding introducing an inclusive and innovative model of governance from grassroots level. “He has strong belief in secular traditions and is a man with liberal and open thinking. He supported the National Conference- Congress coalition in J&K from 2008 to 2014. He tabled a resolution in the State Assembly seeking mercy for Afzal Guru and had submitted a memorandum to Pranab Mukherjee for the same when he had met him in Srinagar to seek his support for his presidential election and had voted for him,” the family said.
It added, “He had been invited by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh twice for discussing the Kashmir problem during his tenure and once by the incumbent PM Narendra Modi to his residence in July 2018 for a meeting. But apparently because he has no Godfathers he has been signed out and incarcerated.”
But the NIA had said that its investigations revealed that Eng. Rasheed worked in tandem with separatists and Pakistan and tried to incite disaffection towards India, the lawfully established government at the Centre and the country’s armed forces. He has been accused also of issuing subtle but ominous messages to the J&K police personnel asking them not to obey the orders of their officers as their abiding by their seniors would be tantamount to inflicting atrocities on their own people. “He also tried to incite a feeling of disaffection amongst the police personnel against the Indian Army which directly is a challenge to the government of India as by law established”, the special NIA court had said after watching a video and observed that these are veiled threats.
The NIA special Judge Praveen Singh had observed that apart from being one of the “direct recipients of terror funds”, the witnesses spoke about Eng. Rasheed’s connection with stone pelters which reflects how his words are taken and how he executes what is stated in his speech. “It is also to be considered that these are words spoken by a person who was a member of the Legislative Assembly having a considerable following. This statement in no manner can be said to be discussed as he is not in a discussion and the moment there are threats issued to the police personnel, with the innuendo that Indian armed forces are occupational forces and that there shall be consequences of supporting the Indian Army,” the court had said adding that Rashid “has crossed the line from advocacy and chartered into the territory of incitement”.
The court had sometime ago rejected Eng. Rasheed’s bail application, his family said, adding that the case is at preliminary trial stage and among around 350 witnesses just few have been examined, so far.
