Rift among Kashmir separatists on collection, use of 'hawala' funds
New Delhi, June 16 (IBNS): India's National Investigation Agency has claimed a rift has appeared among Kashmir separatists regarding the collection and use of funds collected through 'hawala'.
In a press statement citing revelation by Masarat Alam - a prominent face of stone pelters and anti-government protests - during interrogation, the NIA said: “Pakistan-based agents route the funds through ‘hawala’ operators which were transferred to the separatist leaders, including Syed Ali Shah Gilani, Chairman, All Parties Hurriyat Conference. Masarat Alam also revealed that there are rifts in the Hurriyat Conference regarding collection and use of funds.”
A report in The Hindu quoted the agency as saying these revelations were in continuation of a terror funding probe in a case registered by the agency in 2017.
NIA arrested Yasin Malik, leader of the banned Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front; Asiya Andrabi, leader of Duktaran-e-Milat, also banned; separatist leader Shabir Shah of the Jammu Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party (JKDFP) and Masrat Alam of the Muslim League earlier in June. All the four, who were already in jail in other cases, are being questioned by the NIA now.
Mailk also said the Joint Resistance Leadership and the Gilani faction of the Hurriyat Conference “collected funds from the business community as well as certain other sources and ensured that economic shut down and violent protests continue to disrupt the daily life of common citizens in the Kashmir Valley in 2016”, The Hindu report added.
The Kashmir Valley saw widespread violence after Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was killed in an encounter in July 2016.
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