High time separatists pay for their sins

It is strange why it has taken so long for the intelligence in Kashmir to unravel how key members of the Kashmiri separatist group Hurriyat have been receiving funds from Pakistani sources such as Lashkar-e-Tayyeba’s notorious leader Hafiz Saeed to foment violence in the Jammu and Kashmir region. Suffice it to say that better late than never that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has found, albeit through a TV news channel, recorded evidence of this and is calling for questioning Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Naeem Khan, Gazi Javed Baba and Farooq Ahmed Dar alias Bitta Karate who have been named in a preliminary enquiry (PE). The four are suspected to have received funds to pay off people carrying out violent protests and arson in the Valley including stone pelting and torching of schools and government buildings in which more than 100 civilians have been killed since July last year.

Was the Indian intelligence genuinely unaware until now of this widely-suspected secret or was Mehbooba Mufti’s PDP, the main constituent of the ruling coalition in Kashmir restraining the Narendra Modi government at the Centre from acting against Hurriyat, is the moot question. A few months ago, it was even revealed that the travel expenses of several separatists and their boarding and lodging wherever they went, as also their security needs, were being met by the Centre but there was no conscious effort to withdraw these perks. There was a hint of a change of stance when rabble-rouser Asiya Andrabi was jailed and Mehbooba was called to the Centre and told in no uncertain terms by the Prime Minister and the Home Minister that enough was enough and that it was time for tough measures. Recently, when a news channel interviewed Hurriyat leader Naeem Khan, he was indiscreet enough to admit that he and his men had not only organized stone-pelting but also the burning of schools while burning of police stations was on the agenda too.

These nefarious activities were being paid for through the hawala route. The PE alleges that the hawala route is used to send money from Pakistan to agents sitting in Old Delhi’s Ballimaran and Chandni Chowk areas before it is taken to the Valley. Now that the much-delayed tough measures have begun, there must be no turning back. The Hurriyat leaders who have played into the hands of the enemy must be brought to book forthwith. Their sources of funds must be choked. If, by doing that, the PDP-BJP alliance snaps, so be it.