Fahad Shah is a Kashmiri journalist from

Srinagar Srinagar (English: , ) is the largest city and the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It lies in the Kashmir Valley on the banks of the Jhelum River, a tributary of the Indus, and Dal and Anchar lakes. The city is known for its natu ...

Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Kashmir, the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered ...

. He is the founder and editor of the news magazine ''The Kashmir Walla''. He was a recipient of a Human Rights Press Award in 2021. Shah was arrested on 4 February 2022 by

Jammu and Kashmir Police The Jammu and Kashmir Police or JKP is the law enforcement agency of Jammu and Kashmir (union territory). JKP was established in 1873 and has primary responsibilities in law enforcement and investigation within Jammu and Kashmir in India. Hist ...

for allegedly glorifying terrorism.

Journalism career

Shah tried to break into journalism in Delhi in 2009. ''The Kashmir Walla'' was initially his personal blog when he started it in 2011. Shah was interviewed about being a Kashmiri journalist by

Mayank Austen Soofi Mayank Austen Soofi is a Delhi-based Indian writer, blogger and photojournalist, who writes popular columns for ''Hindustan Times'' and ''Mint'' on culture, food and literary landscapes of Delhi. He is best known for his website and blog, ''De ...

. Disheartened by negative attitudes towards

Kashmiris Kashmiris are an Indo-Aryan peoples, Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group speaking the Kashmiri language, living mostly, but not exclusively, in the Kashmir Valley of Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), Jammu and Kashmir, India.(a) (subscriptio ...

in comments to the article, Shah changed the focus of the blog to be a news magazine. ''The Kashmir Walla'' struggled prior to 2018, but later had a staff of 16 and in June 2019 started producing a weekly newspaper. Following the August 2019

Revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir On 5 August 2019, the Parliament of India voted in favour of a resolution tabled by Home Minister Amit Shah to revoke the temporary special status, or autonomy, granted under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution to Jammu and Kashmir—a regio ...

, the internet blackout and curfews led to the news magazine not being able to publish for months. Shah's work has appeared in ''

Foreign Affairs ''Foreign Affairs'' is an American magazine of international relations and U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership organization and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and ...

'', ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'', ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

'', and the ''

South China Morning Post The ''South China Morning Post'' (''SCMP''), with its Sunday edition, the ''Sunday Morning Post'', is a Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper owned by Alibaba Group. Founded in 1903 by Tse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham, it has remained ...

''.

Detention, harassment and arrests

Shah has been summoned multiple times by Indian security agencies in relation to news reports he has published. Following his return from a trip to Pakistan in 2017, Shah was detained and questioned by police. In July 2018 a

teargas Tear gas, also known as a lachrymator agent or lachrymator (), sometimes colloquially known as "mace" after the early commercial aerosol, is a chemical weapon that stimulates the nerves of the lacrimal gland in the eye to produce tears. In ad ...

shell was fired into Shah's residence. Witnesses reported that the shell had been fired by security forces or armed forces. Shah's car was also vandalized by a paramilitary group.

2022 arrests

Shah was arrested by Kashmiri police on 4 February 2022 under the

Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act is an Indian law aimed at prevention of unlawful activities associations in India. Its main objective was to make powers available for dealing with activities directed against the integrity and sovereignty o ...

for "frequently glorifying terrorism, spreading fake news, and instigating people". He was charged with allegedly glorifying terrorism and was booked under the

Public Safety Act The Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978 (PSA) is a preventive detention law under which a person is taken into custody to prevent them from acting harmfully against "the security of the state or the maintenance of the public order" in the ...

. He had been called in for questioning following coverage in ''The Kashmir Walla'' of a police raid in the

Pulwama district The Pulwama district is located to the south of Srinagar in Indian-administered Kashmir. Its district headquarters are situated in the city of Pulwama. It is located in the central part of the Kashmir Valley. Administration In 1979 Anantnag d ...

where four people were killed. Shah was investigated for making statements causing public mischief and for sedition, but was granted bail on 26 February. He was immediately rearrested on separate charges including "provocation with intent to cause a riot", stemming from reports by ''The Kashmir Walla'' on allegations that official pressure was placed on a Kashmir school. Shah was again granted bail on 5 March, and rearrested. In April 2022, Shah's home and the offices of the news magazine were raided by Kashmir police and SIA over an opinion article written by ''The Kashmir Walla'' contributor Abdul Aala Fazili in 2011. A

National Investigation Agency The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is the primary counter-terrorist task force of India. The agency is empowered to deal with the investigation of terror related crimes across states without special permission from the states under written ...

court denied Shah bail on 15 July 2022.

Awards

Shah was nominated for a

Reporters Without Borders Reporters Without Borders (RWB; french: Reporters sans frontières; RSF) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organization with the stated aim of safeguarding the right to freedom of information. It describes its advocacy as found ...

award in 2020. He received the Human Rights Press Award for Explanatory Feature Writing in 2021 for reporting on

violence against Muslims The persecution of Muslims has been recorded throughout the history of Islam, beginning with its founding by Muhammad in the 7th century. In the early days of Islam in Mecca, pre-Islamic Arabia, the new Muslims were often subjected to abuse ...

in Delhi for ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper tha ...

''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shah, Fahad Living people Kashmiri journalists Journalists from Jammu and Kashmir Year of birth missing (living people)

Journalism career

Detention, harassment and arrests

2022 arrests

Awards

See also

References

External links