Shehla Rashid's father alleges threat from daughter, wants her probed

Student activist Shehla Rashid’s estranged father Abdul Rashid Shora on Monday alleged life threat from his daughter, besides demanding that a probe be initiated into her NGOs. He accused her of having taken a huge amount of money for joining politics in Kashmir valley, a charge denied by the former JNUSU leader.

Shehla has termed her father’s statement “absolutely disgusting and baseless” and said that this was his the reaction after a court barred him entry into their Srinagar house on November 17 in response to a complaint filed by the family against him under domestic violence.

Releasing a three-page letter addressed to the Director General of Police (DGP) at a press conference in Jammu, Shora claimed that he is facing a threat to his life from Shehla, her security guard, sister and her mother.

“She had taken ₹3 crore to join politics in Kashmir from (former MLA) Engineer Rashid and (businessman) Zahoor Watali (both of whom were arrested last year by the National Investigation Agency for their alleged involvement in terror funding case),” Shora claimed.

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Shehla, a former JNU student leader, joined politics and became a founding member of JK Political Movement floated by IAS topper turned politician Shah Faesal. However, she later announced her “dissociation with the electoral mainstream in Kashmir” last year.

He also demanded a probe into the Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), being run by Shehla, and the bank accounts of his daughters and their mother.

However, Shehla tweeted a detailed response saying “Many of you must have come across a video of my biological father making wild allegations against me and my mum and sis. To keep it short and straight, he’s a wife-beater and an abusive, depraved man. We finally decided to act against him, and this stunt is a reaction to that.”

Terming the allegations “absolutely disgusting and baseless”, she said the fact of the matter is that they have filed a complaint of domestic violence with a court in Kashmir against her father and it has passed an order restraining his entry into their home.

“My mother has tolerated abuse, violence and mental torture all her life. She has kept quiet for the sake of respect for the family now that we have started speaking up against his physical and mental abuse, he has started abusing us too,” she said, requesting everyone not to take him seriously.

(With inputs from agencies)