'Follows a pattern of intimidation': Digipub condemns detention of journalist Fahad Shah in Srinagar

Digipub News India Foundation issued a statement today condemning the detention of journalist Fahad Shah in connection with his reports on an attack on two photojournalists in Srinagar.

The two photojournalists, BBC's Shafat Farooq and freelancer Saqib Majeed, were allegedly "assaulted by the police when protests began in Srinagar’s Nowhatta area on Friday afternoon", Scroll reported. The attack was condemned by the Kashmir Press Club.

Shah is the editor-in-chief of the Kashmir Walla. He tweeted that he had been summoned to the police station over "objections" about Kashmir Walla's report on the attack on the photojournalists.

In its statement, Digipub said that Shah's detention was "without basis, reflecting the fraught conditions under which the media operate in Kashmir". It also noted that it "follows a pattern of intimidation against him in particular and other journalists in general for doing no more than their job".

Shah had been detained by security forces in 2017, and again in 2020. Digipub's statement said he had been summoned by the police "half a dozen times" over the past three years in connection with reports published by the Kashmir Walla.

The statement urged the government to "stop the frequent, illegal and growing intimidation of the media and the selective targeting of independent voices, such as Mr Shah's."

The Committee to Protect Journalists had also flagged Shah's detention yesterday and demanded his immediate release.