6 reasons why Twitter should block Shehla Rashid

Shehla Rashid has often circulated mistruths about the situation in Jammu and Kashmir only to be called out-- the latest instance being when the Indian Army hit back at her for 'baseless' claims. The Army, in a statement, categorically said “such unverified & fake news are spread by inimical elements and organisations to incite unsuspecting population”. Shehla Rashid despite brazenly putting out fake news continues to have verified, ‘blue tick’,  handle on Twitter. 

Here is a look at 6 other times Shehla Rashid spread fake news using Twitter, which makes the repeat offender a fit case for being blocked on the social media platform: 

BOLSTERED MISTRUTHS ABOUT VIOLENCE IN THE VALLEY

Shehla Rashid on 11th August 2019, re-tweeted the unverified BBC video about Kashmiris being under attack from the Indian forces and bolstered a fake narrative about the situation in the valley. 

FALSELY BLAMED AGENCIES FOR SHUJAAT BUKHARI KILLING: 

It was on 15th June, 2018 that Shehla Rashid tried to peddle the theory that the killing of  Shujaat Bukhari in Jammu and Kashmir was a “job of agencies”  only for the Jammu and Kashmir police to come out and declare how they identified  Lashkar-e-Toiba and Pakistan links to the terrorists that gunned down the Kashmiri Editor. 

FAKE NEWS ON THE PMs ASSASSINATION 

On 9th June 2018, Shehla Rashid reduced a serious concern about an assassination plot against the Prime Minister. Spreading misinformation and lies, Rashid wrote on social media, “ Looks like RSS/Gadkari is planning to assassinate Modi, and then blame it upon Muslims/Communists and then lynch Muslims”. 

CLAIMED ‘PUBLIC INTELLECTUALS’ WERE BEING TARGETED, WHEN ALLEGED URBAN NAXLAS WERE NABBED 

On 2nd February, 2019 it was Shehla Rashid who said “arrest every public intellectual who is committed to the cause of the downtrodden” and seemed to have tried to mislead on the crackdown on alleged Urban Naxals. Urban Naxals are alleged to be the overground workers of Maoists terrorists and considered a serious threat to national security.

FAKE NEWS ABOUT KASHMIRIS BEING UNDER ATTACK IN UTTARAKHAND 

In February this year, the Uttarakhand Police registered an FIR against Shehla Rasid for spreading false information about Kashimiri students being under threat on twitter. This was following Rashid’s tweet about how “15-20 Kashmiri girls trapped in a hostel in  Dehradun for hours now, as an angry mob outside demands that they be expelled from the hostels.”

EQUATED THE RSS WITH THE KU KLUX KLAN: 

On 23rd October, 2018, Shehla Rashid, equated a legally operating social organisation, the RSS, with a  white supremacist hate group and wrote on social media that it “is the Indian equivalent of the Ku Klux Klan”.  

With Shehla Rashid’s Twitter handle constantly promoting falsehoods, it only follows logic that the social media platform should take serious action to contain the spread of misinformation by those who are established, habitual offenders. 

While Republic Media Network has written to Twitter vis-a-vis Shehla Rashid, the social media platform is yet to respond to the specifics.