Jammu & Kashmir : Tightening the Grip

For the first time since the rise of terrorism in Kashmir, a Central agency has carried out raids in connection with the funding of separatists and it has rattled the disruptive forces

Deepak Zazia from Srinagar
By arresting seven Hurriyat leaders including Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s son-in-law Altaf Ahmad Fantoosh, Union Government has given a clear signal of hardening its stand against those who are causing blood-shed and destruction in Kashmir Valley.
Prominent among those, arrested by National Investigating Agency (NIA) are from the Sayed Ali Shah Geelani group, which has been spiting venom in Kashmir Valley against India Those arrested included Naeem Khan, whose revelations in a sting operation set the stage for the NIA’s
investigations.
Shahid-ul Islam, a very close aide of Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, was arrested too. So was Farooq Dar, alias Bitta Karate, who has been a prominent member of the JKLF, which is led by Yasin Malik. The screws are thus being tightened on all the factions of the main separatist conglomerate.
This is the first time since the rise of terrorism in Kashmir in the early 1990s that a Central investigative agency has carried out raids in connection with the funding of
separatists.
In 2002, the income tax department had conducted searches against some separatist leaders including Geelani and seized cash and documents. However, no criminal case was registered then.

Within hours after National Investigating Agency (NIA) arrested seven Hurriyat leaders, Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested another radical leader Shabir Ahmed Shah. Shah was arrested by the ED in connection with over a decade-old money laundering case against him for alleged terror financing.
The ED had issued multiple summons to Shah, but he never deposed before the central investigating agency.
A Delhi court had earlier this month issued a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against the separatist leader. “The warrant has been executed,” a senior official said.
The agency had issued several summons to Shah over the last few years in pursuance of the August 2005 case, wherein the Delhi Police’s Special Cell had arrested Mohammed Aslam Wani (35), an alleged hawala dealer, who had claimed that he passed on Rs 2.25 crore to Shah.

The ED had registered a criminal case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against Shah and Wani.
Wani was arrested allegedly with Rs 63 lakh, received through ‘hawala’ channels from the Middle East, and a large cache of ammunition, on August 26, 2005.
During his questioning, he had told the police that Rs 50 lakh was to be delivered to Shah and Rs 10 lakh to Jaish-e-Mohammad area commander in Srinagar, Abu Baqar, and that the rest was his commission.
Wani, who hails from Srinagar, had also claimed that he delivered around Rs 2.25 crore to Shah and his kin in multiple installments over the past year.
Although there were sufficient proofs against separatist leaders of terror funding and Hawala money, no action was taken by the previous regimes. It is for the first time that Union Government headed by Narendra Modi has taken strong action against these leader to snap terror funding channels.
Inspector General of NIA Alok Mittal, after arresting Hurriyat leaders  described arrests as “one important step’’ and declared that investigations in the case would continue and all those found 22 connected/involved in the case would be examined, raided and appropriate action taken against them at an appropriate time.
“We have arrested the separatist leaders based on the evidence gathered during raids at various places few days back and follow up investigations,” Mittal said, adding that six arrests were made from Srinagar and one from New Delhi.
“Our investigations have made it clear that money coming from various sources was being used for terror
funding and its financial trails are being probed,’’ the NIA IG said. He added that arrests were based on the proof gathered by the investigators.
NIA has charged the separatist and secessionist leaders including the members/cadres of the Hurriyat Conference with acting in connivance with militants of proscribed terrorist organizations like Hizbul Mujahideen, Dukhtaran-e-Millat and Lashkar-e-Taiba and other terrorist organisations.
The arrest separatist leaders have been charged with raising, receiving and collecting funds through various illegal means including hawala for funding separatist and terrorist
organisations in Jammu & Kashmir.
The NIA?has registered Regular Case No. 10/2017/NIA/DLI (J&K Terror Funding Case) under various sections of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) act, 1967.
This is for the first time that the NIA had openly charged the separatist leaders of Kashmir including those belonging to the Hurriyat Conference for having links with three terror
outfits, whose activities were being openly aided and abetted by Pakistan. Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen  operate from Pakistan with their mentors Hafiz Sayeed and Syed Salahudin openly moving in the neighbouring country while Dukhtaran-e-Millat is stated to be the women wing of Hizbul Mujahideen.
Hafeez Saeed, the Pakistan-based chief of the Jamaat-ul Dawah, the front of the banned Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), has also been named in the FIR as an accused besides organisations such as the Hurriyat Conference (factions
led by Geelani and Mirwaiz Farooq), Hizbul Mujahideen and
Dukhtaran-e-Milat.