Shehla Rashid said her announcement was prompted by the central government's move to hold Block Development Councils elections in Jammu and Kashmir (Reuters photo)

Activist Shehla Rashid announced her disassociation from "mainstream politics" in Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday. Rashid, a former vice-president of the JNU Students' Union, said her announcement was prompted by the central government's move to hold Block Development Councils elections in Jammu and Kashmir, where communication restrictions are in place. The restrictions were imposed after the Centre moved to scrap Jammu and Kashmir's special status and to bifurcate the state into two Union Territories.

In a statement, Shehla Rashid called the Block Development Council polls a "sham electoral exercise" being carried out by the Centre "in order to convince the world that it [India] is still a democracy". Rashid claimed that the "Indian government continues to abduct children in Kashmir, and even as people are deprived of the means to call an ambulance and other emergency services".

Shehla Rashid said she joined politics as she believed it was "possible to deliver both justice as well as good governance, and also work for the resolution of the Kashmir issue as per the wishes of the people of Jammu & Kashmir".

"I will continue to be an activist and raise my voice against injustice on all fronts that do not require a compromise... - Shehla Rashid

"All this would have been possible if the government respected the rule of law. However, the centre's recent actions have shown that, when it comes to J&K, it doesn't even respect its own laws, forget international law. The centre also gets away with it because the institutions play along."

Saying that she "cannot be party to the exercise of legitimizing the brutal suppression of my people", Shehla Rashid announced, "I would, therefore, like to make clear my dissociation with the electoral mainstream in Kashmir."

"I will continue to be an activist and raise my voice against injustice on all fronts that do not require a compromise, and I'll continue to put my energies behind the Supreme Court petition seeking the restoration of special status of the state, and the reversal of bifurcation of the state," Rashid added.

Rashid's announcement of quitting mainstream politics came on the same day the Congress party said it would not contest the Block Development Council polls. Speaking at a press conference in Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir Congress Chief GA Mir said the Election Commission of India should have consulted political parties before announcing the polls.

"We won't participate in the BDC election. How can political parties take part when leaders are under detention? The EC should have consulted political parties before announcing block development council election," Mir said.