The J&K State Investigation Agency (SIA), constituted to investigate militancy-related cases, on Sunday arrested a Kashmiri scholar for his write-up published in 2011 by the magazine, The Kashmiri Walla.
The arrest was made after the SIA conducted raids on the office and house of arrested ‘The Kashmir Wallaeditor Fahad Shah in Srinagar’s Rajbagh and Soura area, and also the residence of scholar Abdul Aala Fazili in Humhama. Mr. Fazili, who has a Masters in Pharmaceutics, is at present a PhD scholar in the department of pharmaceutical sciences at Kashmir University.
“The searches were conducted in connection with FIR No. 01/2022 under Section 13, 18 UA(P) Act read with sections 121, 124, 153 B and 120-B IPC of Police Station JIC (SIA) Jammu, against the author of seditious article Abdul Aala Fazili and the Editor and other associates of The Kashmir Wala,” an SIA spokesman said.
The SIA said the article titled ‘The shackles of slavery will break”, published on November 6, 2011, “is highly provocative, seditious and intended to create unrest in Jammu and Kashmir, written with the purpose of abetting the youth to take the path of violence by glorifying terrorism and on the other the write-up promoted and propagated the false narrative, which is essential to sustain secessionist cum terrorist campaign aimed at breaking the territorial integrity of India”.
The SIA said the article has used prescriptive language with instructional intent, encouraging secessionist elements to carry out terror activities. The SIA quoted a few excerpts, which read: “On the occasion of Eid ul Azha, let us all pledge in the name of the blood of our martyrs and tears of mothers and sisters: that we shall always remember their sacrifices, that we shall never stop our struggle for freedom.”
In another para, the author had written that there was no need to be in anxiety and despair about the success of our freedom struggle. “I have this total and farthest belief; we will finally achieve freedom – Insha’Allah.”
The SIA said the repeated reference to freedom and terror outfits’ rhetoric makes it amply clear that the article is not merely propaganda. “Rather, it is articulation of Pakistan ISI and the vision of its sponsored terrorist secessionist networks,” it said.
Gadgets seized
Meanwhile, the SIA said, during the raids on the houses and offices of editor Mr. Shah and Mr. Fazili, it seized “incriminating evidence, which includes material in computers, laptops and other digital equipment”.
In a statement,The Kashmir Walla said the raids at Mr. Shah’s residence, where his family lives, started at 7:17 a.m. and at the office started at around 8:20 a.m. “The search and paperwork formalities lasted for more than three hours at both places,” the statement said.
According to the magazine, the laptops of two reporters, a Macintosh laptopvfrom the multimedia department, six hard drives that had backups, and five CDs were seized during the raid.
“They also checked reporting dairies and phones of two reporters, who reached the office during the raid. The Kashmir Walla co-operated with the officials during the raid and facilitated the formalities,” it said.
In the raid at Mr. Shah’s residence, a laptop of another staffer, who was also there during the searches, a tablet, and a voice recorder were seized, it added.
“We condemn the seizure of reporters’ gadgets and other equipment at the office and at Shah’s residence. We yet again call upon the Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha-led administration to withdraw the charges against Shah and the work of The Kashmir Walla,” the statement said.
Mr. Shah, who was arrested on February 4 and later booked under the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA) on March 16, though the courts granted him bail at least twice in two different cases. He is currently imprisoned at the Kupwara Jail.
