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HomeIndiaGovernanceHafiz Saeed & Salahuddin among 12 in NIA charge sheet in J&K...

Hafiz Saeed & Salahuddin among 12 in NIA charge sheet in J&K terror funding case

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Many Hurriyat office-bearers also named alongside LeT and Hizbul Mujahideen chiefs, NIA says it has definite evidence of cross-LoC funding.

New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency Thursday filed a charge sheet against 12 persons – including Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed and Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin – in the Jammu and Kashmir terror funding case.

The 12 have been charged with criminal conspiracy and waging war against the nation.

The others named are: Aftab Ahmad Shah, media advisor and strategist of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (Mirwaiz Umar Farooq faction); Altaf Ahmad Shah alias Fantoosh, public relations officer at Tehreek-e-Hurriyat; Nayeem Ahmad Khan, chairman, National Front; Farooq Ahmad Dar, chairman of Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front; Mohammad Akbar Khanday, spokesperson of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (Geelani faction); Raja Mehrajuddin Kalwal, office-bearer of Tehreek-e-Hurriyat; Bashir Ahmad Bhat, personal assistant of Syed Ali Shah Geelani; Zahoor Ahmad Shah, a hawala conduit; and Kamran Yusuf and Javed Ahmad Bhat, alleged stone pelters.

How NIA arrived at this conclusion

During the investigation, the NIA conducted raids at 78 locations across Kashmir, and seized over 950 documents pertaining to financial transactions, diaries with contacts of hawala operators, accounts of cross-LoC trade, details of Jammu and Kashmir bank accounts, and travel documents of entities showing visits to the UAE, which have all been mentioned in the charge sheet.

The charge sheet said the investigation was based on scientific and oral evidence, and conclusively established that the suspects were receiving funds from Pakistani agencies through hawala conduits. They were also raising funds, it alleged, by generating illegal profits from cross-LoC barter trade through under-invoicing and cash-dealings.

“The money is also routed through fake and bogus companies floated abroad and remitted to Hurriyat leaders in Jammu & Kashmir,” an NIA official alleged.

“During the investigation, over 300 witnesses were examined. Analysis of documents and digital devices showed that the accused carried out terrorist attacks and orchestrated violence and stone-pelting as part of a well-planned criminal conspiracy,” he said.

“This conspiracy was hatched with the active support, connivance and funding from terrorist organisations based in Pakistan, and Pakistan’s agencies, to achieve their objective of secession of the state of Jammu & Kashmir by waging war against the government of India,” he alleged.

“Separatist leaders belonging to the Hurriyat Conference have established a network of cadres throughout Kashmir Valley who incite the youth to attack all symbols of Indian sovereignty, especially Indian security forces who are deployed there for the maintenance of law and order,” the officer added.

“Under the guidance of Hafiz Saeed, Syed Salahuddin, and their Pakistani handlers, the separatist leaders of Jammu & Kashmir and stone-pelters form strategies and action-plans to launch violent protests. They communicate this to the masses in the form of ‘protest calendars’ released through newspapers, social media and religious leaders, creating an atmosphere of terror and fear in Kashmir.”

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