The dossier prepared by the police to book journalist and editor of Kashmir Walla Fahad Shah (33) under the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA) has described him as “a radical since childhood and anti-national, whose story finds no mention of the government’s good governance or positive intervention”.
It was on the basis of this police dossier that Mr. Shah, who was first arrested on February 4 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, was booked on March 4 under the PSA, a law under which a person can be detained without a trial for two years. Mr. Shah had secured a bail in two other cases.
In the detailed dossier, the police accused Mr. Shah of “having a radical ideology right from your childhood”.
“Being a prominent journalist, your approach has been based on creating a rift between the groups of law-abiding masses. You are continuously propagating stories which are against the interest and security of the Nation and the stories mostly highlight the allegations of Kashmir conflict and Indian state high-handedness,” it alleged.
The police said the reportage of Kashmir Walla, a news portal and a magazine run by Mr. Shah, was “propagating stories in a particular selective narrative, which is in line with the ISI and separatist propaganda”.
‘Anti-India sentiment’
“Over the last two years, you have followed a selective pattern of disseminating anti-India sentiment in a very subtle manner, though some of the stories are brazenly provocative as well. You legitimize and romanticize stone pelters and other instruments of violence. Your modus operandi is to carry one to two stones per month which are based entirely on the victimhood narrative that portrays anti-India sentiment, glorifies stone pelters, terrorists, and justifies separatism and violence,” it said.
The police questioned the style of reporting on Mr. Shah’s portal. “Any other news item or story related to good governance or positive Intervention by the Government of India hardly finds any mention,” the dossier stated.
The police termed Mr. Shah “an anti-national element under the cover of journalism and have always been found provoking, instigating gullible masses against the Government of India and Government of J&K, through both electronic and print media”.
Describing Mr. Shah “a hard-headed” and “scheming person”, the dossier said his actions have been ranging from tweets, posts glorifying terrorism by selective pattern of disseminating anti -India sentiment in creating fears among majority population based on radical and unethical journalism among the masses.”
‘Will pose serious threat to UT security’
The police said Mr. Shah, if not detained under the PSA at this point of time, would cause serious damage and pose a serious threat to the security of the UT (Union Territory). Mr. Shah’s mindset “can be figured from the tweets on his social media networking sites, which show an instigating bent of his mind”.
“Your activities are prejudicial to the security and sovereignty of the country. Your aim and objective seem to destabilise the government established by law in J&K and also to assist the local misguided youth for harbouring and providing them every logistic support in their anti-national activities,” the police alleged.
The police said Mr. Shah was “highly motivated to carry on the illegal designs and are not likely to desist from such anti-national and anti-social activities”.
Mr. Shah, whose father has served the police as an officer, has been lodged at the Kupwara jail at present.
