Srinagar, May 18, KNT: Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader and legislator Waheed Ur Rehman Para on Monday expressed anguish over incarcerated Member of Parliament Engineer Rashid being unable to be with his father during his final moments, describing the situation as a deeply personal and political tragedy for many families in Kashmir.
In a post shared on X, Para said Engineer Rashid “remains behind bars while his father returns to the earth without the touch of his son’s hands, without one final embrace, without the comfort of seeing him beside his deathbed.”
The remarks came amid reports of the death of Engineer Rashid’s father while the Baramulla MP continues to remain in custody in a terror funding-related case investigated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
Para framed the episode as part of a larger emotional and social reality in Kashmir, saying many families in the region have experienced separation caused by imprisonment, conflict, or political circumstances.
“There are sorrows that death brings and then there are sorrows that outlive death itself,” Para wrote, adding that “to lose a parent from afar is to carry a wound time never closes.”
The PDP leader further said politics in Kashmir often extends beyond institutions and enters homes and families. “Here, politics does not stay in parliaments or prisons; it enters homes, sits beside hospital beds, and breaks families in silence,” he said.
In the latter part of his statement, Para described Engineer Rashid’s father as carrying “both pride and pain,” referring to pride in his son’s political rise and pain over his absence during his final moments.
“Some prisons are built with walls. Others are built with distance, helplessness, and the cruelty of being unable to say goodbye,” Para wrote.
Engineer Rashid, who won the Baramulla Lok Sabha seat as an independent candidate, remains lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail in connection with a case being probed by the NIA. His detention and legal proceedings have repeatedly drawn political reactions from parties and leaders in Jammu and Kashmir. [KNT]
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