The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday said that it has attached 17 properties of Zahoor Ahmed Shah Watali, a financier of terrorism in J&K, in a Hurriyat terror funding case.

Yasin Malik, a JKLF commander, is currently serving a life sentence in this case.

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Alongside Yasin Malik, seventeen others, including Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the Amir of Jammat-ud-Dawah and a top commander of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), and Mohd Yusuf Shah alias Syed Salahuddin, a top commander of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, have also been charged in the case.

The NIA registered the case suo moto on May 30, 2017. Malik was found guilty on all charges and sentenced to life imprisonment with a fine.

The case pertains to terrorist and secessionist activities in Jammu & Kashmir conducted by proscribed ISI-backed organizations such as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM).

These outfits have been spreading terror and perpetrating violence in the valley by promoting and carrying out attacks on civilians and security forces.

“Seventeen properties belonging to Watali in the Handwara area of Kupwara in Kashmir have been attached by the NIA today, on the orders of the Special NIA Court, Patiala House, under section 33(1) of the UA(P) Act,” said the NIA official.

The official said that these banned terrorist groups were using the All Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC), formed in 1993, as a front for carrying out and supporting secessionist activities in Kashmir.

Investigations in the case have revealed that the accused secessionists, including the APHC, entered into a criminal conspiracy and adopted a strategy of inciting the general public to create a tense atmosphere in the Kashmir valley and resort to violence. Watali had been sending funds raised from various sources to Hurriyat leaders to promote the secession of Jammu & Kashmir from the Union of India.

NIA investigations revealed that Watali was a hawala conduit who received money from Hafiz Saeed, a ‘Specially Designated Global terrorist’ by the United States and a ‘listed global terrorist’ by the UN.

Hafiz Saeed masterminded the 2001 Parliament attack and the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

Watali received foreign remittances amounting to crores between 2011 and 2013 from various sources.

Additionally, he received foreign remittances in his Proprietorship Firm named M/s ‘Trisson International’, Srinagar, and unexplained remittances were found in his NRE Bank accounts.

“Watali claimed to have sold a plot of land measuring 20 kanals, purportedly owned by his company, M/s ‘Trison Farms and Constructions Pvt. Ltd.’, to one Naval Kishore Kapoor, a co-accused in the case. However, investigations found that neither Watali nor his aforementioned company were the owners of this plot of land according to the revenue records. Watali is currently facing trial before the Special NIA Court in New Delhi,” said the official.