Baramulla MP lists Kashmir’s unfinished grief — from mine blast brides to mothers who waited 26 years to declare sons dead
Suhail Khan
New Delhi, April 16: Shortly after 2 pm on Thursday, inside a half-empty Lok Sabha, Engineer Rashid did something unusual. He refused to celebrate.
While others spoke of percentages and constitutional amendments, the Baramulla MP offered a different measure of women’s empowerment — one counted in bodies never returned, in wedding nights turned to funeral pyres, in mothers forced by law to call their sons dead.
“For me, the day of women’s power will be when my cousin knows why her husband was snatched,” he said.
That cousin was married on September 26, 1993. Her husband was taken the same day. She was never told why.
A mother’s 26-year wait
MP Er Rashid spoke of Abdul Rashid Wani, arrested on July 7, 1993. His body was never found. Twenty-six years later, his mother went to court — not for justice, but for permission to declare him dead.
“For me, women’s power will be when she is told why her son was declared dead for 26 years,” the MP said.
He recalled another woman in Baramulla — a mother whose son and daughter-in-law were blown up in a mine blast on their wedding day. “For me, women’s power will be when she is told why.”
MP Er. Rashid turned to the Line of Control. “Our thousands of mothers and sisters must be able to cross that murderous line — for which 24 seats have been reserved, but we are not even allowed to look at each other.”
He demanded that Kashmiri sisters be reunited with brothers “in jail from Kashmir to Assam.”
The MP, who has spent years in Tihar himself, did not spare the women’s reservation bill. “If you want to empower SC, ST, and women, give them good education. 33 per cent reservation gives a sense of imperial complex. If India truly wants to become a superpower, we must move beyond reservation culture towards real empowerment.”
‘Pandits must return’
The member parliament from Baramula Er. Rashid also called for the return of Kashmiri Pandits who left the Valley in 1990. “For me, the day of women’s power will be when my Pandit brothers and sisters return to their motherland, Kashmir.”
Through the 20-minute address, Er Rashid struggled with his own grief. His father has been in hospital for 20 days. “I may not be able to see him for the last time,” he said, appealing to his family: “Do not lose hope. Forgive me.”
“This system wants to kill every person who has the courage to speak the truth — in and out of jail. Even if I take 100 births and am put in jail 100 times, I will continue to speak for the people of Jammu and Kashmir till my last breath.”
