Rasheed, the MLA from north Kashmir’s Langate constituency, was arrested on Sunday for taking out a protest march in the valley in solidarity with Kashmiri students of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) who were booked on sedition charges.
Rasheed, along with supporters of his Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) took out a protest march from his official residence at Jawahar Nagar area towards Lal Chowk city centre. The protestors were shouting slogans in favour of the students of the AMU. However, as soon as the protestors reached near the Zero Bridge in the Rajbagh area, police stopped the march and arrested Rasheed.
Addressing the media before the march, Rasheed said offering funeral prayers for anyone, including Wani, was not a crime “but a fundamental religious obligation”. “The AMU administration has filed charges of sedition against Kashmiri students only under pressure from local BJP leaders just to polarise the issue and gain electoral dividends,” he added.
“Whatsoever is being attributed to the students is absolutely false and baseless. The AMU is a prestigious institution and the only aim to drag the university into controversies is to interfere in the affairs of the varsity and abolish its Muslim dominated character,” Rasheed alleged.
The MLA further said that Kashmiri students are being targeted only for the reason that they are Kashmiris and being a Kashmiri has become a crime in India. “Every Kashmiri stands with the students who are being subjected to mental torture and harassment not only at the AMU but everywhere in India,” he added.
“We demanded withdrawal of FIR against the students and seek revocation of suspension orders of the students who have been accused of raising anti-India slogans,” Rasheed concluded.
On Friday, Uttar Pradesh police registered a sedition case against two named and several unidentified Kashmiri students of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), who allegedly tried to conduct namaz-e-janaza (funeral prayers) on the campus following the killing of PhD student-turned-terrorist Manan Bashir Wani in north Kashmir.
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