NIA attaches 2 properties of Hurriyat leader in funding case

New Delhi, Jun 13  : The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday attached two more properties, belonging to an accused, in the ‘Hurriyat terror funding case’ in Kashmir.

The action comes a day after the agency attached 17 properties of ‘militancy financier’ Zahoor Ahmed Shah Watali.

The properties of All Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) separatist leader Mohammad Akbar Khanday include nine kanal land and a two-storeyed house in Srinagar. These have been attached on the orders of Special NIA Court, New Delhi, under section 33(1) of UAPA, a statement issued to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) reads

“Khanday, currently in Tihar Jail facing trial in the terror funding case, was the Spokesperson/ Media advisor of Hurriyat Conference (G). He was raising and collecting funds from within India and abroad through various illegal channels and was using the same to sponsor and promote separatist and terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir,” the statement added.

Khanday, who was closely connected with other separatist leaders of the APHC, was operating in close association with Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) and he used to collect funds for unlawful and violent activities, it said, adding that he was also actively involved in activities aimed at secession of Jammu and Kashmir from the Union of India, NIA investigations have revealed.

“The case, filed suo moto by NIA in May 2017, relates to terrorist and secessionist activities being carried out by ISI-backed proscribed terrorist organisations in Jammu and Kashmir. These banned outfits, including Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) etc, were using the APHC as a front for their activities, NIA investigations have revealed. They were spreading terror and perpetrating violence in the Kashmir valley by promoting and conducting attacks on civilians and security forces,” the statement said.

The agency has so far filed chargesheets against 17 persons, including Hafeez Saeed, the Amir of Jamaat-ud-Dawah and LeT and a UN listed terrorist, as well as Mohd. Yusuf Shah@ Syed Salahuddin, the Chief of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM), it added—(KNO)