Pak-Based Outfits Conspired to Wage War Against India: NIA

LeT conspired with separatist leaders to create an atmosphere of terror in J&K, the NIA chargesheet states.

Kashmir’s summer unrest of 2017.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/Sudhir Kumar)

The National Investigation Agency (NIA), on Tuesday, 30 January, accused Pakistan-based terror outfits of "conspiring to wage war against Indian government" by providing funds to foment trouble in the Kashmir Valley.

The agency told Additional Sessions Judge Tarun Sherawat that Pakistan-based outfits have been passing on money through hawala channels and alleged that officials of country's High Commission were also playing an active role.

The NIA, on 18 January, had filed a chargesheet against 12 people – including Lashkar-e-Taiba terror group chief Hafiz Saeed and Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin – in connection with allegedly funding terror and anti-national activities in Jammu and Kashmir.

A conspiracy under the supervision of Pakistan-based organisations was hatched. The accused persons were working in connivance with Saeed and Salahuddin to raise funds for the terror activities

Special public prosecutor and senior advocate Sidharth Luthra, appearing for NIA.

The submissions were made by the agency when the court asked what evidence they had gathered to try the accused.

Luthra said the "people who get hurt or killed in action by the security forces were hailed as martyrs" and claim "freedom as their goal". "It's a misconceived cause," he said.

Letter heads of Hizbul Mujahideen were recovered from some of the arrested accused, the agency claimed, adding that Geelani had termed Afzal Guru a hero of Kashmir.

The court posted the matter for consideration of the charge sheet on 1 February.

The NIA said that a number of places were searched during the investigation which led to the recovery of various incriminating documents and other evidences which relate them to the terror organisations and the funding for the terror activities.

The chargesheet had come a day after Pakistan PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi hinted, in an interview with a local TV channel, that there is no case against Hafiz Saeed in the country.

What the Chargesheet Says

The chargesheet, that runs into over 12,000 pages, was filed under several sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. The NIA registered the terror funding case in May 2017. The agency examined over 300 witnesses and raided 60 locations across the country.

In the chargesheet, the NIA states that the All Parties Hurriyat Conference established a network of cadres across the Kashmir Valley in a bid to incite the youth to create unrest. The agency has named seven separatist leaders, who they claim are acting on the instruction of the heads of the LeT and Hizbul Mujahideen. The NIA chargesheet suggests the separatist leaders had strategies in place to launch violent protests in the Valley. In connivance with the stone-pelters, (two of whom have been named in the chargesheet), the separatist leaders communicated the plan of action to the masses in the form of ‘protest calendars’ – that were allegedly released through social media, newspapers, etc.

Funds Routed Through Hawala From Pakistan: NIA

The NIA claims to used scientific evidence and witness statements to unearth the different channels through which funds were sent. As per the chargesheet, the accused were receiving funds from Pakistan-based terror groups through hawala operator, Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali, resident of Handwara in J&K.

The NIA said that funds were also raised using illegal profits gleaned from LoC barter trade, involving under-invoicing and cash-dealings. Additionally, money was routed through bogus companies floated abroad and remitted to the Hurriyat leaders in Jammu & Kashmir.

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