Former JNU student leader Shehla Rashid’s father, Abdul Rashid Shora, has alleged that his daughter took Rs 3 Crore to join a political outfit. He had written to Jammu and Kashmir DGP Dilbag Singh alleging that former MLA and engineer Rashid and businessman Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali had given Shehla the money to join Jammu and Kashmir People’s Movement.
Moreover, Abdul Rashid had added that he faced a threat to his life from his wife, Zubaida Shora, eldest daughter Asma Rashid, Shehla, and their security guard Sakib Ahmed. He requested the police to intervene in the matter and to provide him security. He also urged the officers to probe into Shehla’s bank accounts and financial dealings with Watali and engineer Rashid.
However, Shehla took to social media to narrate her side of the story. She described her father’s claims as “absolutely disgusting, baseless allegations”.
She said, “The fact of the matter is that my mother, my sister, and I have filed a complaint of domestic violence with the Court under which my father has been restrained.” Shehla added that her father’s allegations are a reaction to that. “My mother has tolerated abuse, violence, and mental torture all her life. She has kept quiet for the sake of respect for her family. When my sister and I were kids, we were unable to protect our mother. Now that we have started speaking up against his physical and mental abuse, he has started abusing us too,” she posted.
There are two aspects to the allegations put forward by Abdul Rashid. One is that Watali and engineer Rashid were both arrested by the National Investigation Agency in a terror funding case. The NIA picked up Watali in 2017, and engineer Rashid in 2019. In his letter, Shehla’s father had claimed that Watali had called him to the latter’s residence before Watali’s arrest. At the alleged meeting, Watali had offered to pay Rs 3 crore to bring Shehla into JKPM that they were planning to form. While Abdul Rashid claims to have denied the offer, he added that his “wife and eldest daughter supported their daughter (Shehla) joining them”.
The second aspect is that IAS topper and controversial former bureaucrat Shah Faesal had started the JKPM after resigning from the civil service. He formed the party last year, and later he had announced an alliance alongside engineer Rashid’s Awami Ittehad Party. However, after being booked under the Public Safety Act and being detained under house arrest, Shah had announced that he could no longer continue as the chief of his party and resigned.
