JAMMU: During Lt. Governor Manoj Sinha’s address in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly on Monday, the lone Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) MLA, Sheikh Khursheed Ahmad, staged a protest in the central hall.
As the Lt. Governor started delivering his address, holding a placard, AIP MLA Sheikh Khursheed vocally opposed several policies of the administration and demanded justice for the victims of recent killings in Baramulla and Kathua.
He also demanded the restoration of Articles 370 and 35A, arguing that their abrogation had stripped Jammu and Kashmir of its special status and rights.
Ahmad called for the release of all political prisoners and said that detaining leaders, activists and youth without trial was undemocratic.
He also sought justice for the families of two men killed in Baramulla and Kathua, urging the administration to conduct a fair probe and provide compensation to the victims’ families.
Ahmad is the brother of the AIP founder and Lok Sabha member, Engineer Rashid, who is lodged in Tihar Jail in Delhi.
Khursheed Ahmad won the Legislative Assembly election last year as the AIP candidate from the Langate constituency of the Kupwara district.
This constituency was twice represented in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly by Engineer Rashid.
After getting elected to the Lok Sabha, Engineer Rashid fielded his brother from Langate.
Engineer Rashid won the Lok Sabha election by defeating the National Conference (NC) vice president, Omar Abdullah, by a margin of over two lakh votes.
He had filed his papers from Tihar Jail for the Lok Sabha polls. He was later released on interim bail for a short period because of the ill health of his aging parents.
Rashid sought votes for AIP candidates during the J&K Assembly polls after getting interim bail. But he could not make any impact during the Assembly polls and all the AIP candidates except Sheikh Khurshid Ahmad lost those elections