The top leadership of the separatist group All Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC), which includes Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Yasin Malik and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, is likely to be arrested for their alleged role in facilitating terror funding in Kashmir.
Sources told this reporter that the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is investigating the terror funding, which was allegedly used by the separatist leaders in the valley, has found substantial evidence that the leaders were acting as over ground workers for Pakistan based terror groups and were the receivers of hawala money that they would later distribute to terrorists and stone-pelters.
“We have a trove of electronic evidence that proves that these people were in fact the brain and the financiers behind these stone-pelters. These leaders were specifically asked by their Pakistan based financiers to focus on increasing stone pelting on the armed forces as this was getting a good anti-India traction both internationally and domestically. These leaders, until now, presented themselves as a political entity but the evidence that we have, proves that they are in fact just like terrorist leaders,” a senior NIA source said.
The NIA last week arrested seven separatists from Kashmir. Following their interrogation, evidence was gathered, which pointed to these top leaders who until 2014 were treated as “state guests” by Government of India. The government spent around Rs 100 crore a year on their “upkeep”. It was only in the recent months that the government gave a go ahead to the NIA to crack down on these separatists who for decades have been acting at the behest of Pakistan.
The NIA, which has become the nodal agency to take on these “unarmed separatists”, has inducted at least 20 officials from Jammu and Kashmir in its organisation in order to get more intelligence and knowledge. These officials are well versed with the local terrain, culture, behaviour etc. These officials have been absorbed as SP, DSP, inspectors and constables.