Abdul Rashid Shora, the “biological father” of JNU activist Shehla Rashid, who had recently alleged that his daughter has been colluding with anti-India forces and getting paid for it, has been sent a defamation notice for Rs 10 crores by a Kashmiri businessman and politician Feroz Pirzada.
Shora, in a letter to the J and K DGP, had claimed threat to his life and had alleged that Shehla took 3 Crores in cash to join Kashmir centric politics from ‘notorious people’. Shora had added that Shehla had mysterious financial dealings with Feroz Peerzada, Kashmiri businessman Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali and Rasheed Engineer, an ex-MLA.
As per a report in Amar Ujala, the defamation notice has been sent by Feroz Pirzada, a businessman and the former leader of J and K People’s Movement. A report in Amar Ujala states that the 4-page defamation notice, sent by Peerzada’s lawyer, says that his clients business interests and social standing has been damaged by Shora’s statements.
The notice further states that Pirzada had resigned from the JKPM on November 30 due to ‘personal reasons’ and he does not know arrested businessman Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali. It adds that Pirzada has met NIA accused Rasheed Engineer on two occasions. In a media interview, Pirzada had stated that he had never met or seen Shehla’s father.
Privada has claimed that the allegations levelled by Shora are wrong and he had never done any ‘financial dealings’ with Shehla Rashid. The defamation notice states that if Abdul Rashid Shora does not pay Rs 10 crores to Pirzada within a week, they will be forced to initiate legal action agaonst him.
Shora’s claims and Shehla’s counter-allegations
It is notable here that both Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali and Rasheed Engineer have been arrested by the NIA for alleged seditious activities and terror funding. Shora had alleged that Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali and Rasheed Engineer had paid Shehla Rs 3 crores to start the J and K People’s Movement with former IAS officer Shah Faesal.
Shehla had refuted her father’s claims and had called her father a ‘wife beater’. She had alleged that her father has a domestic violence case against his and is levelling baseless allegations against her.
Shah Faesal was kept under preventive detention last year after the abrogation of Article 370. The political party, though launched with much fanfare, had failed to take off and had not participated in elections. Peerzada had shared the stage with Shehla and Faesal at the much-publicised launch event of the party.
