The NIA court in Srinagar on Tuesday framed charges against 8 Hurriyat leaders for “selling” MBBS seats in Pakistan to candidates of J&K.

After hearing detailed arguments from a battery of lawyers from the side of the defence and the counterarguments of the State Investigation Agency (SIA) represented by the Special Public Prosecutor, in eleven hearings and spread over five months the Court of Special Judge Designated under NIA, Act, Srinagar Manjeet Singh Manhas has framed charges against accused Mohammad Akbar Bhat @ Zaffar Akbar Bhat (Chairman Salvation Movement), Fatima Shah of Palhalan Pattan, Altaf Ahmad Bhat at present in Pakistan, Qazi Yasir of Qazi Mohalla, Reshi Bazar, Anantnag, Mohammad Abdullah Shah of Kupwara, Sabzar Ahmad Sheikh of Nowgam, Anantnag, Manzoor Ahmad Shah of Kupwara at present in Pakistan, Mohammad Iqbal Mir of Anantnag of Mahaz Azadi front, for committing offences under 13, 17, 18, 40
UA(P) Act r/w 420 IPC in case FIR No.05/2020 of P/S CIK/SIA Srinagar.

Case FIR No.05/2020 was registered in CIK/SIA on 27-07- 2020 against unscrupulous persons who were handed in
glove with some educational consultancies for arranging admission of J&K residents in MBBS and other professional courses in various Colleges, Institutions and Universities in Pakistan.

Huge amount of money was received in lien of such admission from the parents of the students, and the money so earned was ploughed into supporting terrorism in J&K.

During the course of the investigation, searches in the houses of accused persons and at the other places were undertaken by sleuths of SIA after obtaining search warrants from Court.

The documents and other material seized during the search were analyzed and it was found that deposits in the account(s) of accused persons were made on account of providing admissions in various technical and professional courses in Pakistan including MBBS. Cogent evidence surfaced during an investigation that the money so received was passed on to terrorist(s), stone pelters and OGW(s) for unlawful and terrorist activities.

During the course of the investigation statements of witnesses were recorded and on the basis of other evidence collected it surfaced that the admissions in MBBS and other professional courses in Pakistan were in preferentially given to those students who were close family member and relatives of killed terrorists on the recommendations of
members of Hurriyat and received by their counterparts in Pakistan.

It was on the recommendations of Hurriyat that authorities in Pakistan provided admission in the professional colleges to the next of kin (NOK’s) of killed terrorists as compensation to boost morale and keep the pot of terror boiling in the valley and infuse a new spirit into the terror fold, SIA said.

It was further established during investigation that a part of larger conspiracy accused persons through different valley-based consultancies without their knowledge used to motivate the gullible parents of students aspiring for professional courses especially for MBBS to apply through these consultancies for such courses in Pakistan with the assurance of cost-effectiveness in comparison with other south Asian or middle east countries offering such
courses.

On the motivation of accused persons the parents / students often used to get trapped. The accused persons in conspiracy with Hurriyat leaders based in Pakistan and Kashmir were demanding huge amounts of money from parents for getting their children admitted to different technical courses especially MBBS in Pakistan. Moreover, they also would arrange recommendation letters from Hurriyat leaders and other VTDs (valid travel documents) from Pakistan Embassy, New Delhi to facilitate their visit to Pakistan for admission. All the arrangements of parents/students in Pakistan were usually done by the accused persons in Pakistan.

The students were made to appear in the National Talent Search (NTS) test at the Hurriyat office in Pakistan as a dupe tactic to make them believe that they were writing a prequalifying test which would lead to their admission to professional colleges in Pakistan.

Such tests were mostly facilitated by the persons/relatives of the accused persons who had ex-filtrated to Pakistan in 1990s to get illegal arms training and are settled in Pakistan / Pakistan occupied Kashmir, who are utilizing their Kashmir based contacts to further aid and abet terrorism in J&K.

During the investigation it came to fore that the accumulated money was ploughed into militancy and to create laws and other problems by disturbing the peace, damaging public property, striking terror among the common masses and creating a potential threat to the sovereignty of India.

Money raised through this process was also distributed among the families of killed terrorists as a token of incentive for such families and families of active militants to boost their morale and carry forward antinational/ subversive/radical activities against the Union of India, added SIA.

Recently Govt. of India /MCI have issued notifications that professional Degrees such as MBBS and other technical courses obtained from Pakistan will not be recognized in India.