After court order, NIA seals Hurriyat’s office
SRINAGAR: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday attached the main office of All Party Hurriyat Conference in Srinagar, on the direction of a Delhi court under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), triggering a sharp reaction from the separatist outfit which called the order “lopsided”.
A team of NIA sleuths and Jammu & Kashmir Police pasted a copy of the court notice at the main entrance of the office in Rajbagh area. Later, it put up separate billboards that said the office has been attached. Notices were also pasted inside the office premises and the complex was sealed.
“This is to inform all members of the public that the building where the office of All Party Hurriyat Conference is located at Rajbagh which is owned jointly by Shri Nayeem Ahmad Khan who is presently facing trial in case RC 10/2017/NIA/DLI in the NIA court Delhi, has been attached by the court order dated 27 January 2023 ny the special NIA court, Patiala House, New Delhi,” the notice said.
On Saturday, the Patiala House Court in Delhi ordered attaching of the office in a UAPA case being probed by NIA against separatist leader Nayeem Ahmad Khan. Khan was arrested on July 24, 2017. He is still in custody.
The Hurriyat Conference condemned the attachment and termed the order “lopsided”.
“Whether it is the sponsored assaults on the office by paid goons or few members of a certain community. Now in a lopsided court order, the office has been ‘attached’ and in subsequent swift and dramatic action under media coverage notices put up on its walls, signalling some kind of victory take over,” it said.
It also said that “those in command and control of Jammu and Kashmir should know that the sentiment and desire to see the resolution of the Kashmir conflict and to live in fearless peace, is embedded in the people of Jammu and Kashmir”. “Hurriyat is a manifestation of that desire. Attaching buildings of stone and mortar will not detach people from their sentiment. They will continue to seek a peaceful resolution,” it said.
“It may seem good optics to those who want to send another shrill message to the people of Kashmir and get votes outside of it, but people of J&K know better.”