NIA probe links Pak terror groups to funds raised by Hurriyat leaders
NEW DELHI: A National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe has found that top leaders of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), the umbrella group of separatists in the Kashmir valley, raised funds through Pakistanbased terror groups, from trading across the Line of Control (LoC), and shell companies as well as hawala channels, two officials familiar with the findings said.
Proceeds from the import and export of Kashmir handloom goods were also used to fund terror and secessionist activities in the Valley in which the NIA has found the involvement of Hurriyat leaders, including Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Shabir Shah, Yasin Malik, Asiya Andrabi and Masarat Alam, among others, the two officials said. Some of the meetings on the fund raising efforts took place at the Pakistan high commission, the officials added.
The federal anti-terror probe agency is set to make these revelations in a charge sheet it will file soon against several separatist leaders, including Yasin, chief of the Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF); Shabir Shah, president of the Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party; Andrabi, head of the Dukhtaran-e-Millat, a women’s separatist group; Alam, general secretary of the Hurriyat; and businessman, Zahoor Ahmad Watali.
The charge sheet is being prepared at a time when restrictions have been clamped on public movement in parts of the Valley, and many separatist as well as mainstream politicians are under detention following the nullification of Article 370.
To be sure, the Pakistan high commission will find a mention only against the backdrop of the fact that the mission’s premises were allowed to be used for holding some of the meetings where fund raising was discussed; none of its staff is mentioned as a suspect. The high commission had no response to a request for comment. This will be the third charge sheet filed by the NIA in its probe of terror funding. The previous two were filed last year.
To nail the Hurriyat leaders, NIA has procured their email correspondences as well as video footage, and TV interviews and public speeches available in the public domain as evidence. One of the statements used by NIA in the charge sheet is Yasin Malik claiming in a TV interview a few years ago that he had visited the Lashkar-e-Taiba camp in Murree in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and addressed a cadre of the terrorist group.
One of the officials cited above told HT that the APHC had adopted a strategy of instigating people to engage in violence and to create a surcharged atmosphere in the Valley .
Separatist leaders, NIA has found, were working in a systematic and organised fashion on the instructions of their Pakistani handlers and set up a network of cadre at the village, block and district levels who praised terrorist activities, attended the funerals of slain terrorists and delivered hate speeches besides motivating youngsters to join militancy.
According to the official, NIA will allege in the charge sheet that Kashmiri people were repeatedly incited to observe strikes on nonexistent issues and instigated to take part in unlawful activities such as stone pelting of security forces that threw normal life in the Valley out of gear.
The second official said, the Pakistan high commission organised functions and meetings in New Delhi in which Hurriyat leaders were invited and given instructions as well as funds. The separatists usually collected funds in the name of supporting the families of militants.
Hurriyat leaders, in return for money, also recommended to the high commission the names of Kashmiri students wanting to study in Pakistani universities, suggesting that even young Kashmiris were not spared when it came to the separatists making money, the official said. Probe also revealed the use of shell companies, hawala channels, crossborder trade and the handloom business to raise money to finance terror.
OFFICIALS CLAIM THAT PROCEEDS FROM THE IMPORT AND EXPORT OF KASHMIR HANDLOOM GOODS WERE ALSO USED TO FUND TERROR ACTIVITIES IN VALLEY