HAFIZ, SEPARATISTS CHARGED OVER TERROR FUNDING
NEW DELHI: The National Investigating Agency (NIA) on Thursday charged Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed and Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin in a case related to the alleged funding of terror and secessionist activities in the Kashmir valley.
NEW DELHI: The National Investigating Agency (NIA) on Thursday charged Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed and Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin in a case related to the alleged funding of terror and secessionist activities in the Kashmir valley.
The NIA charge sheet, running into 12,794 pages and filed before a designated court in New Delhi, accused the two of guiding and funding separatists and terrorists in the Valley.
Among 10 other people named by the NIA was Hurriyat leader Syed Shah Geelani’s sonin-law Altaf Ahmed Shah Funby toosh, who was charged with receiving funds from Pakistan.
Kashmiri businessman Zahoor Ahmad Watali and two alleged stone-pelters, Kamran Yusuf and Javed Ahmed Bhat, also figured in the charge sheet.
The seven separatists named the NIA are second- or thirdrung leaders of various entities constituting the All Party Hurriyat Conference, an umbrella separatist organisation, NIA investigators said.
“One of the accused in the case – the key aide of a top Hurriyat leader – has stated before the magistrate that the funds came directly from Pakistan. He could be made a government witness in the case,” said an NIA official, who asked not to be named.
Separatists including Mirwaiz Umar Faooq and Yasin Malik, however, said the NIA’s charge sheet was aimed at “browbeating” those fighting politically for the region’s right to self-determination.
The agency alleged that the accused received funds from Pakistani agencies through “hawala conduits” such as Watali, or raised money through an illegal barter trade along the Line of Control. Bogus companies floated abroad also contributed funds for fuelling violence and terror activities, it added.
“During the course of investigation, the NIA teams conducted searches at over 60 locations spread across Jammu & Kashmir, Haryana and Delhi and seized over 950 incriminating documents and over 600 electronic devices. Over 300 witnesses were examined,” the agency said in a statement.
The NIA had registered an FIR in the case last May.