The NIA has tightened the noose around subversive forces which had been engineering stone-pelting in the Valley making the task of crackdown on separatists far too challenging for the security forces
Sant Kumar Sharma
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested seven Hurriyat Conference leaders on charges of links with terror outfits Lashkar e Taiba (LeT), Hizbul Mujahideen and Dukhtaran e Millat. In a move of far-reaching consequences, six arrests were made in Srinagar, while one was arrested in New Delhi.
Among those arrested was Altaf Ahmed Shah alias Altaf Funtoosh, son-in-law of hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani.
Others were Ayaz Akbar Khandey, Raja Mehrajuddin Kalwal, Peer Saifullah, Aftab Hilali Shah alias Shahid-ul-Islam, Nayeem Khan and Bitta Karate (Farooq Ahmed Dar). Bitta Karate was arrested in New Delhi.
Altaf Fantoosh, the son-in-law of Geelani, had earlier been put in preventive custody by Jammu & Kashmir Police immediately after Eid in July. Ayaz Akbar is the spokesman of the Geelani (hard line) faction of the Hurriyat Conference and Peer Saifullah is considered very close to Geelani. All of them happen to be the leaders of the hardline faction. On the other hand, Shahid-ul-Islam is the spokesman of the moderate faction of Hurriyat Conference led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. He is one of the most important leaders of the moderate faction led by the Mirwaiz.
The NIA has charged them with working closely with LET, Hizb and what is considered its women’s wing, Dukhtaran- e- Millat. They have been charged with having a role in stone-pelting incidents, burning of schools, and waging war against India. They have been charged under Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 121, 121A of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and many sections of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
The NIA had first raided some prominent businessmen, separatist politicians and other suspects in the month of May. It had then seized some incriminating documents, money running into crores of rupees and computer hard disks. The recent round of arrests of seven Hurriyat Conference is believed to be in continuation of the earlier raids. In the earlier raids, the agency had gathered some significant evidence of terror links of these suspects.
Incidentally, Hafeez Sayeed, the Pakistan-based chief of Jamaat-ul-Dawah (JuD), the organisation controlling terrorist organisation LeT, has also been named as an accused in the FIR. Syed Salahuddin, the chief of terrorist organisation Hizb, has also been living in Pakistan for many years and is reported to be passing instructions to its rank and file in Kashmir from there.
It is curious that all sons and daughters of Salahuddin, Hizb chief, are all employed in government services. None of them has joined the father who, every now and then, gives calls for strike against the security forces. While his entire family is safe, there are gullible Kashmiris who pick up guns, fight security forces and get killed. Perhaps, ordinary Kashmiris need to think and re-think why nobody from Salahuddin’s family has joined terrorism.
Overall, the month of July 2017 has been a difficult one for terrorists and their alleged mentors even after terrorists managed to kill seven Amarnath yatris in Anantnag district on July 10 evening. Several other yatris were injured as terrorists fired on a Gujarat registered bus around 8.20 pm just as dusk was embracing the day.
On July 8, a year ago, terrorism’s poster boy in Kashmir, Hizbul Mujahideen operative Burhan Wani, had been killed. A year later, there were apprehensions that secessionists will create major problems for security forces. There was bandh call and shut down in most parts of the Valley. As a precaution, the government shut down internet services, now and then, to check rumour mongering. And prevent the use of social media as a tool for spreading lies and disaffection.
The Internet services remained available but on landline connections and not on mobiles. In the past, social media had been an easy tool in the hands of separatists and secessionists. Terrorists have used it to spread their messages of hate against a particular community. They have also used it to convey to masses their ideas about the imposition of Sharia in Jammu & Kashmir as their ultimate goal.
One of the notable successes of security forces was in eliminating Sabzar Bhat, who had taken over after Burhan was killed last year. This had practically left Hizbul Mujahideen
leaderless as virtually all top operatives have been killed over the last year. Its chief, Syed Salahuddin, has been living in Pakistan for many years and is reported to be passing instructions to its rank and file from there.
It is perhaps a sign of the weakening of network of terrorists that operatives of LeT) are involved in attacks on security forces along with those of Hizb. LeT operatives are mostly Pakistanis who are usually better trained than the Hizb operatives. These hardcore Pakistani terrorists owing affiliation to LET have been found, in the recent past, directing and participating in operations again the security forces.
After the Amarnath yatris were killed by terrorists, security forces upped the ante and carried out many successful operations against the terrorists. These operations led to the killings of around 25 terrorists, in a fortnight or so, both on the Line of Control (LOC) and the hinterland. That apparently means that “actionable intelligence’’ was reaching security forces about infiltrating groups and terrorists operating in villages.
Amidst it all, terrorist Zakir Musa issued a stern warning to over-ground separatist leaders that they should not hinder the fight for the imposition of Nizam e Mustafa in the state. When he was challenged by some separatists, he broke off from Hizbul Mujahideen and declared that henceforth he will operate independently.
Zakir Musa has, after breaking ranks with Hizbul Mujahideen, released a couple of videos in social media. He has made it clear that he and others with him were fighting for the glory of Islam and no other cause. The spread of Islam, in its most conservative forms, beginning with the imposition of Sharia, was the aim he and others espoused.
Simultaneously with all this, at the international level, the USA also
decided to enlist Pakistan as a country which was involved in providing safe havens to terrorists. The State Department has designated Syed Salahuddin, chief of Hizbul Mujahideen and also the chief of United Jihad Council (UJC) as a “global terrorist’’.
The auditors of Canada Revenue Agency have said that they have found proof that money being collected in a Toronto mosque was going to organisations involved in terrorism in J&K. The auditors have found that these funds were being given to Jamaat-e-Islami (of Pakistan) of which Hizbul Mujahideen is the armed wing.
(The writer is a J&K-based sr journalist)
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