Baramulla MP Engineer Rashid (file photo)

Srinagar: Parties in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday rallied in support of Engineer Rashid and urged authorities to temporarily release him on humanitarian grounds, a day after a Delhi NIA court rejected the jailed Baramulla MP’s bail plea to meet his critically ill father.People’s Conference president Sajjad Lone said, “I may have a lot of disagreements with Engineer Rashid. We fight each other politically. But he deserves to meet his seriously ill father. It is his right.”Rashid’s son Abrar said his grandfather Khajir Mohammad was on ventilator support in the ICU of SMHS hospital in Srinagar. “Granting short-term bail will not weaken the system. It will show balance and the law is not blind to human suffering.” A man who spent years in Tihar Jail requested to spend only a few moments with his father during his last days. It is sad to see that this too was rejected. I hope that compassion will find a place in this serious situation. Abrar said, some moments once lost can never be brought back.Rashid, lodged in Tihar since 2019, faces charges under UAPA in the 2017 terror funding case investigated by the NIA.National Conference (NC) Governor MP Chaudhry Mohammed Ramzan appealed to the Center to “consider Rashid’s release on humanitarian grounds”.Rashid’s Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) expects “fairness and compassion” from the Delhi High Court, where the MP’s regular bail plea is scheduled to be heard on April 27. AIP expressed deep concern over the denial of interim relief and urged the authorities to take into account Rashid’s position as the sitting MP of Baramulla, which covers 18 assembly constituencies and about 40% of Kashmir’s population.Rashid was granted custodial parole earlier this year to attend the budget session of Parliament. He defeated NC’s Omar Abdullah by over 2 lakh votes in Baramulla in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Omar won the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections and became CM later that year.