Srinagar: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) Monday arrested seven Kashmiri separatists on charges of receiving funds from Pakistan to sponsor terror activities and stone-pelting protests in the Kashmir Valley.
Those arrested include Altaf Shah, son-in-law of separatist leader SAS Geelani, Ayaz Akbar, Peer Saifullah, Mehraj Kalwal, Shahid-ul-Islam, Naeem Khan and Bitta Karate. Islam is a close aide of moderate Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, while Akbar is the spokesperson for the Geelani-led Hurriyat.
Geelani suspended Khan from the primary membership of Hurriyat Conference in May, a few days after a sting operation surfaced wherein he supposedly confessed to receiving funds from Pakistan to create unrest in the Kashmir Valley.
Hafeez Saeed, the Pakistan-based chief of the Jamaat-ud Dawa, the front of the banned Lashker-e-Taiba, has been named in the FIR as an accused, aside from organisations like the Hurriyat Conference (both factions led by Geelani and separatist Mirwaiz Farooq), Hizbul Mujahideen and Dukhtaran-e-Milat.
Agencies
