Srinagar: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday arrested seven second-rung Kashmiri separatist leaders and activists on charges of terror funding.
Those who were arrested include Altaf Ahmed Shah alias Fantosh, a son-in-law of separatist patriarch Syed Ali Shah Geelani. Mr Shah, perceived as an influential force in Mr Geelani’s Tehrik-e-Hurriyat, was in the custody of Jammu and Kashmir police after he was taken into detention in the last week of June following a request from the NIA.
Separatists reject NIA's charge
The NIA has been probing alleged funding of terror and subversive activities in the Kashmir valley after a national TV channel in a sting operation, showed three separatist leaders admitting on camera that they had received funding from Pakistan and Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, a co-founder of Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and the chief (amir) of Jama’at-ud-Da’wah, which has had sanctions placed against it as a terrorist organisation by the United Nations.
Those who were arrested include Altaf Ahmed Shah alias Fantosh, a son-in-law of separatist patriarch Syed Ali Shah Geelani.
Shah, perceived as an influential force in Geelani’s Tehrik-e-Hurriyat party, was in the custody of Jammu and Kashmir police after he was taken into prevention detention in the last week of June following a request from the NIA.
The others arrested on Monday are Ayaz Akbar, Raja Merajuddin Kalwal and Peer Saifullah — all close aides of the separatist leader, Farooq Ahmed Dar alias ‘Bita Karate’, a leader of a faction of JKLF and Naeem Ahmed Khan, the leader of National Front. An alliance of key separatist leaders has called for a shutdown in Kashmir on Tuesday against “revengeful, arbitrary and illegal” arrests. The alliance which calls itself ‘Joint Resistance Leadership’ and has Geelani, the Mirwaiz Muhammad Yasin Malik on it said in a statement here, “They have been arrested by the NIA on fabricated charges.”
