Jammu & Kashmir

Kashmiri journalist Fahad Shah’s custody transferred to Joint Interrogation Centre Jammu

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Fahad Shah. [File Photo]

Srinagar: In connection with a case brought by the State Investigation Agency, Kashmiri journalist Fahad Shah’s custody has been transferred to the Joint Interrogation Centre (JIC), Jammu, Indian Express reported.

The case is in connection with the detention of a PhD student under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for an article published under his name on the online news portal thekashmirwalla.com, headed by Fahad Shah, 11 years ago.

The agency said the article published on November 6, 2011, was “highly provocative, seditious and intended to create unrest in Jammu and Kashmir”.

The report quoting an order passed by the third Additional Sessions Judge, Jammu, on May 18, said that during questioning, the author (Abdul Aala Fazili) “has denied writing of the article” titled ‘The shackles of slavery will break’, therefore, for “the investigation agency to come up with facts, the custody of the editor-in-chief of ‘thekashmirwalla.com’ (Fahad Shah) is imperative”.

After being booked in different cases by three districts — Pulwama, Shopian and Srinagar — Shah was subsequently booked under the PSA. This is the fifth case in which he has been booked and will be questioned at the JIC, the report added.

Shah had been lodged at the District Jail, Kupwara since March 2022. This followed his arrest three times and securing bail twice. Calling him an “instigator”, the PSA dossier against Shah said that he had been found to be “working against the ethics of journalism” and misusing the profession “by posting anti-national content which has a multidimensional adverse impact on sovereignty and unity of country”.

Fazili came to the limelight during the 2016 street protests when he participated in several television programmes condemning the use of force on civilian protesters. He was called for questioning by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) five years ago, the report mentioned.

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