The Kashmiri politician whose return from jail ruffled feathers

As Indian-istered Kashmir prepared for assembly elections earlier this month, a local MP returned home from a Delhi prison to campaign for his candidates. Who is he and why does his return matter to the region's politics? Auqib Javeed reports from Srinagar.

Sheikh Abdul Rashid, who had been in jail since Article 370 was abrogated in 2019, was granted interim bail earlier this month on terror funding charges he denies.

The 57-year-old, who is popularly known as Engineer Rashid, has urged people to vote for his candidates instead of regional or national parties. His Awami Ittehad Party has fielded candidates in more than three dozen seats.

The high-stakes assembly elections are the first since the region's autonomy was revoked in 2019. With 873 candidates across 90 constituencies in the Muslim-majority Kashmir valley and Hindu-majority Jammu, the elections have been described by federal officials as a proof of normalcy in a region long plagued by insurgency. The third and last phase of the polls will be held on Tuesday and votes will be counted on 8 October.

Kashmir's politics, dominated by mainstream parties pledging allegiance to India, has had a history of individuals and groups seeking separation from the country or enhanced autonomy for Kashmir, with some of them ing an armed movement to achieve that.

• Article 370: What happened with Kashmir and why it matters
• Kashmir: The complicated truth behind its 'normality'

Some separatist groups in the past have also backed Pakistan's role in Kashmir. India and Pakistan both claim Kashmir in full, but control only parts of it.

But this assembly election has seen participation of many former separatist leaders as well.

Rashid has chosen to be part of the democratic process but has been vocal against what he calls Delhi's "heavy-handed" rule in Kashmir.

He is known for his fiery speeches, and leading protests in unconventional ways against alleged government excesses, often irking authorities.

He made waves in June when he defeated regional political heavyweight Omar Abdullah in parliamentary elections. While he was lodged in jail, his sons led an emotionally charged and successful campaign on his behalf.

But this time he is able to speak to voters directly and he has also smartly used social media to amplify his messages.

Within hours of being released on 11 September, Rashid told the media that he was going to fight against the removal of Article 370.

The article allowed the state its own constitution, a separate flag and freedom to make laws. Foreign affairs, defence and communications remained the preserve of the federal government.

"We don’t accept Prime Minister [Narendra Modi's] decision taken on 5 August [2019],” he said, referring to the day when the autonomy was abrogated.

He then went live on Facebook, repeating similar messages. The hour-long speech currently has more than 2.5m views, 44,000 likes and 25,000 comments – an unusually high number for a regional politician.

Rashid’s popularity worries his regional opponents, who have termed him a “proxy” of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Two former chief ministers of the state and the heirs of leading regional parties, Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah, have publicly questioned his party’s funding and alleged that he was dividing voters to favour the BJP.

He has repeatedly denied the allegations. "If I were a BJP man, I wouldn’t have spent over five years in jail,” he told the BBC. "I won [almost] 500,000 votes in the general elections, how could I be dividing votes":[]}