New York, April 20, 2022 (PPI-OT):Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a New York-based media watchdog, has expressed serious concern over the victimization of Kashmiri journalists by the Indian authorities in illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir. The CPJ in a statement posted on its website asked the Indian authorities to stop prosecuting the staff and contributors of Srinagar-based news portal ‘The Kashmir Walla’ for their work.
The State Investigation Agency in IIOJK arrested Abdul Aala Fazili, a former contributor to The Kashmir Walla, on Sunday, in relation to a November 2011 opinion article. The SIA and Indian police also raided The Kashmir Walla office, the home of its editor Fahad Shah – who was under illegal detention since March – and Fazili’s home, seizing electronic devices including laptops. The probe agency claimed that Fazili’s 2011 article supporting Kashmir’s freedom from Indian illegal occupation was “highly provocative, seditious and intended to create unrest”. However, the SIA didn’t give any information as to why it was acting now on the article.
“The Jammu and Kashmir authorities’ vindictive campaign against journalists has reached the point of absurdity with the arrest of former The Kashmir Walla contributor Abdul Aala Fazili over an 11-year-old article,” said Steven Butler, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator, from Washington, D.C. “Indian authorities must drop its investigation into Fazili and immediately release him.”
Fazili is a former contributor to The Kashmir Walla who is currently a research scholar at the Kashmir University. As per a statement by The Kashmir Walla, the SIA and Indian police raided Fahad Shah’s home and the news portal’s office for three hours on Sunday and seized two reporters’ laptops, a computer from the multimedia department, six hard drives, and five CDs. Officials also searched reporting notebooks and phones of two reporters who were present in the office during the raid, it added.
The SIA booked Fazili under four charges including criminal conspiracy, waging or attempting to wage war against the Indian government and sedition, as well as two sections of the draconian law, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), as per The Kashmir Walla statement. Under the UAPA, Fazili could face up to seven years jail and even the life imprisonment. The CPJ said that it was unable to confirm Fazili’s current whereabouts. Fahad Shah is currently lodged in Kupwara district jail.
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