Srinagar, Nov 1 (HS): Islamic scholar and public speaker Dr Muhammad Sameer Shafi Siddiqui, who is regarded as a close aide of MP Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi, on Sunday urged people across Kashmir to rise above religion and political affiliation and attend the rally at Behisht-e-Zahra Park in Budgam on Tuesday, November 3. Addressing a press conference, he claimed that the day would prove to be a milestone in Kashmir’s public life.

National Conference (NC) MP Aga Ruhullah has announced that he will resign from the party’s primary membership and from his Lok Sabha seat on November 3, the 26th death anniversary of his father, Aga Syed Mehdi. He made the announcement in August, after NC president Dr Farooq Abdullah challenged him to resign and go back to the people if he believed voters had backed him personally. Ruhullah cited ideological differences with the party leadership, including the party’s stand on Article 370 and its election manifesto promises.

According to sources, after resigning Ruhullah will address a rally at Behisht-e-Zahra Park in his hometown of Budgam, near the DC office, and a large turnout is expected, particularly of young people.

“This is the voice of conscience,” Siddiqui said. “I appeal to all the people of Kashmir, regardless of religion, whether Muslims, Kashmiri Pandits, Sikhs, Scheduled Tribes, or people from Jammu, Pir Panjal and the Chenab Valley, to attend the rally in Budgam on the morning of November 3 to pay tribute to this leader’s unparalleled sacrifice, where, God willing, a new chapter in Kashmir’s history is about to be written.”

He said Ruhullah has no intention of forming a separate group or sect. What he wants, Siddiqui said, is for the constitutional guarantees of the people of Kashmir, whether relating to Article 370, land rights or job rights, to be protected. “There are no signs in the near future that the government’s approach is going to change,” he said. “If it does, that would be a good thing. But Aga Sahib has taken this step now so that the identity of the people of Kashmir is restored.”

Siddiqui described Ruhullah’s movement as a people’s movement above organisations and groups. According to him, Ruhullah believes that reducing Kashmir to the status of a Union Territory with the stroke of a pen is a blot on Kashmir’s conscience. “This is not about any one organisation. It is about Kashmir’s collective dignity,” he said.

Recalling the election campaign, Siddiqui said Ruhullah had told the public even then that their constitutional guarantees had been undermined, and that whichever government came to power would be responsible for raising these rights. According to him, Ruhullah had said at the time that if promises were not kept, he would be the first to speak out against the betrayal. Ruhullah has now stepped forward, Siddiqui said, to tell those in government that they are going back on the promises on which the people brought them to power. “He is not with power, he is with the people,” he said.

Siddiqui also appealed to Kashmir’s clerics, preachers and religious speakers to back what he called a “voice of truth”, regardless of sect. “Why do you not give a religious person the right to express himself politically?” he asked. “Does offering prayers take away that right? Every person of conscience, whether he is a maulvi or not, and whichever religion he belongs to, should openly express his conscience.”

---------------

Hindusthan Samachar / Zahoor Hussain Bhat