Srinagar, Apr : State Investigation Agency (SIA) has arrested PhD scholar Abdul Aala Fazili for a “highly provocative” and “seditious” article that was published in Kashmir Walla and also carried out raids at the residence and office of the Editor of the portal.
The SIA conducted searches at several locations in Srinagar today in (FIR No. 01/2022 u/s 13, 18 UA (P) Act read with sections 121, 124, 153B 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 monthly digital magazine, The Kashmir Walla.
The searches for the collection of evidence by the sleuths of SIA were conducted at different places including the office of The Kashmir Walla, residence of Abdul Aala Fazili at Main Chowk Humhama and residence of Fahad Shah at Soura Srinagar.
“The search teams have seized incriminating evidences which includes material in computers, laptops and other digital equipment’s,” read the statement issued by the SIA.
The raid at Shah’s residence, where his family lives, started at 7:17 am. His office was raided at 8:20 am. The search and paperwork formalities lasted for more than three hours.
Shah, is currently imprisoned at the Kupwara Jail under the stringent Public Safety Act since 16 March.
The SIA officials seized the laptops of two reporters, a Mac from the multimedia department, six hard drives that had backups, and five CDs. They also checked reporting diaries and phones of two reporters, who reached the office during the raid.
In the raid at Shah’s residence, a laptop of another Kashmir Walla staffer, who was also there during the searches, a tablet device, and a voice recorder were seized.
According to the SIA statement, “The shackles of slavery ill break” written by Abdul Aala Fazili” is highly provocative, seditious and intended to create unrest in Jammu and Kashmir.
“The article has been written with the purpose of abetting the youth to take the path of violence by glorifying terrorism”, read the statement.
The statement added that the article has used prescriptive language with instructional intent, encouraging secessionist elements to carry out terror activities. It said that the write-up promoted and propagated the false narrative, which is essential to sustain secessionist cum (militant) campaign aimed at breaking the territorial integrity of India.
According to the SIA, Fazili, a PhD scholar in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Kashmir University, was paid Rs 30000 by the Government of India per month for five years till March 2021 through UGC MANF (Maulana Azad National fellowship) so that he can sustain himself and complete his PhD.
