Engineer Rashid to LG: Reinstate 60 staff sacked over terror 'links'

SRINAGAR/NEW DELHI: Baramulla MP Engineer Rashid met J&K lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha at Raj Bhavan in Srinagar Saturday, seeking the reinstatement of nearly 60 govt employees dismissed since 2019 for alleged links to separatism.

He urged Sinha to intervene in problems facing the people of north Kashmir, especially those arrested on charges of alleged links with separatism and terrorism.

The meeting came days after a Delhi court extended Rashid's interim bail till Oct 15. Rashid, a two-time MLA, was arrested by NIA in 2019 in a terror-funding case and has been imprisoned in Delhi's Tihar Jail since then. He was granted bail until Oct 2 to campaign for the assembly polls, which was extended twice by 10 and three days. Rashid contested the 2024 LS elections from prison and won Baramulla as an independent, defeating Omar Abdullah of NC and Sajad Gani Lone of People's Conference.

Rashid's AIP fielded independents in 44 seats, but results showed rejection of separatists. Only his brother Khursheed Ahmad Shiekh won.