Shehla Rashid On The ‘Anti-National’ Slur

Brut India

The face of campus resistance and a survivor of relentless online abuse, Shehla Rashid spoke to Brut India about how misinformed online trolls really are.

Transcript

00:30I have never supported Pakistan. But I am told all the time, oh you Pakistani supporter,

00:43Pakistani supporter, Pakistani supporter. So it's very baseless. And it's meant to incite

00:48the majority against certain figures who are questioning the government. And we are shown

00:53as anti-national and whatnot. Any Kashmiri who is in any visible position of leadership,

00:59whether that's corporate leadership or political leadership, they will be attacked. Because

01:04these trolls, they are very misinformed. They keep attacking Mehbooba Mufti and Umar Abdullah,

01:09keep calling them separatists, keep calling them terrorists. Whereas in Kashmir, anyone

01:14who is familiar with Kashmir politics, they know that it's the mainstream politics, mainstream

01:19politicians like Umar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, who are the main targets of armed insurgents.

01:27So these trolls are very, very uninformed. They have absolutely no idea of who is what.

01:31It's organised and they enjoy the patronage of the ruling party. And this is done mostly

01:38before elections. Whenever an election is coming up, these trolls are unleashed. They

01:43are like, we have to go on Twitter and abuse women. And nothing is ever done about it.

01:57Yes, there were attacks. They were unfortunate. But these attacks were carried out by Bajrang

02:02Nath, by Shiv Sena members. And Shiv Sena has even expelled some of its members for

02:06doing that. But I must say that the police has played a good role. Not just in Delhi,

02:11in all areas across the country, police has played a good role. They have intervened.

02:15If the police did not intervene, as they do in the riots, you know, in the riots, what

02:19happens? A certain mob is given a free hand. That's how lives are lost. That's how people

02:23are killed. But this time the police actually intervened.

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