Patiala House Court Seeks NIA Reply On Bail Plea of Kashmiri Leader Engineer Rashid

The Patiala House Court has issued a notice to the NIA and requested a response to the bail plea of Kashmiri leader Sheikh Abdul Rashid, also known as Engineer Rashid. The court will hear the plea on August 28. Rashid, who won from the Baramulla constituency in the recent Lok Sabha elections, has been in custody for five years in a terror funding case filed by the NIA.

Rashid defeated former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in Baramulla during the elections. His name surfaced during the interrogation of Kashmiri businessman Zahoor Watali, who was arrested by the NIA for allegedly funding terrorist groups and separatists in Kashmir.

The NIA arrested Rashid in 2017. On March 16, 2022, the court ordered charges against several figures, including Hafiz Saeed, Syed Salahuddin, Yasin Malik, Shabbir Shah, and Rashid.

The NIA claims that with support from Pakistan’s ISI, groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba, Hizbul Mujahideen, JKLF, and Jaish-e-Mohammed carried out attacks and violence in Jammu and Kashmir. The All Party Hurriyat Conference, formed in 1993, played a key role in promoting separatist activities.

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