The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday alleged that the “Pakistan High Commission is supporting separatists to create unrest in (the Kashmir) valley”.
“Role of Pakistan High Commission in supporting the separatist and other networks through transfer of funds via financial conduits and in providing directions to continue the unrest in the Kashmir Valley has also been clearly established,” a statement from the agency said.
The NIA had earlier on Friday named Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Yasin Malik and four others in its second chargesheet in connection with a terror funding case under the new Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
The charge sheet, running into 200 pages, named Malik, as well as the founder and President of the Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party Shabir Shah, Dukhtaran-e-Millat chief Asiya Andrabi, All Party Hurriyat Conference General Secretary Masarat Alam and former MLA Rashid Engineer.
The agency charged them of allegedly receiving funds from Pakistan to carry out terrorist activities and stone-pelting in 2010 and 2016.
According to NIA officials, fresh material has surfaced in the form of social media evidence, call records, oral and documentary evidence.
The agency has also claimed that it has recovered some videos wherein the said accused persons were seen, exhorting general public for illegal acts, sympathising with the militants and seeking direct support from Pakistan.
The new material shows the relationship of the persons chargesheeted with Jama’at-ud-Da’wah (JuD) chief and 2008 Mumbai terror attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed and Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin.
“Various incriminating chats and emails have been recovered from the email accounts of Yasin Malik and Shabir Shah wherein description of receipt of funds from Pakistan and various other countries have been revealed. It has also been found that Yasin Malik has been getting funds from foreign countries through hawala channels for causing unrest and insurgency in Kashmir,” the NIA said.
The agency further states that it has recovered suffiencent evidence against suspected terrorist Masarat Alam.
“Investigations have also established the nexus of Aasiya Andrabi, leader of proscribed organization Dukhtaran-e-Millat with different militant and terrorist organizations and with hawala financial conduit Zahoor Watali,” the statement said.
The agency also claimed that the role of Engineer Rashid in the alleged conspiracy to destabilize Kashmir and cause unrest has also been revealed.
The court will take cognizance of the matter on October 23.
The NIA in 2017 arrested several separatists belonging to the two factions of Hurriyat Conference led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Syed Ali Shah Geelani, respectively, for terror funding.
In its first charge sheet filed last year, the agency named Geelani’s son-in-law Altaf Fantosh, Kashmiri businessman Zahoor Ahmed Shah Watali, Naeem Khan, Raja Mehrajudin Kalwal, Bashir Ahmed Bhat, alias Peer Saifullah, Aftab Hilali Shah, alias Shahid ul Islam, Farooq Ahmed Dar, alias Bitta Karate, Mohammad Akbar Khandey, alias Ayaz Akbar and Javed Ahmed Bhat, among others.
The NIA had registered the case in May 2017 against various separatist leaders who were acting in connivance with terrorist organisations like Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, Dukhtaran-e-Millat, and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) for collecting funds through illegal means for funding terrorist activities and stone-pelting in Jammu and Kashmir.