Attacks – Journalists

In what was the second attack targeting Fahad Shah in a matter of weeks, a teargas shell was thrown into the home of his living room on the night of 8 July, starting a fire that was quickly put out. Witnesses said members of the armed forces or the Jammu and Kashmir security forces were responsible. A paramilitary group vandalized Shah’s car a month ago.

The founder and editor of the Kashmir Walla news website, Shah is convinced that the attacks were not random. “Working as a journalist was never easy in Kashmir, and now with each passing day it seems more difficult,” he said. “There are different pressures and threats (…) now you don’t just get trolled on social media.”

In June 2017, Shah was arrested by the local police and was questioned for several hours about his reporting. In his Kashmir Walla articles, he often writes about censorship of dissidents and about the consequences and victims of the region’s armed conflict.