SRINAGAR: Jailed Lok Sabha MP from Jammu and Kashmir Engineer Rashid announced a two-day hunger strike in Tihar Jail from Saturday to protest the India-Pakistan cricket match.“India and Pakistan can play cricket, share stage on international platforms, and engage in dialogues, but they fail to hear the pain of the people of Jammu and Kashmir,” Rashid said.Awami Itihaad Party (AIP) spokesperson Inam Un Nabi said Rashid has written to the Director General of Prisons in New Delhi describing the strike as a symbolic protest against what he called “hypocrisy of Indian and Pakistani govts”.Rashid said civil society, the judiciary, media and political parties should rise above rhetoric and respect the political and human rights of Kashmiris.He also criticized Pakistan, saying the country once silenced Kashmiri voices by dismissing them as “Indian agents” but now its leaders are “begging for handshakes with Indian cricketers who dedicated their victory to Operation Sindoor”.Rashid was arrested in a terror funding case by NIA on Aug 9, 2019, four days after Article 370 was revoked. Since then, he has been lodged in Tihar Jail. However, while in jail, his political career took a dramatic turn in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, when he won from Baramulla constituency by a huge margin, defeating NC vice-president Omar Abdullah.
