The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday filed the 12,749-pages charge sheet against the Kashmiri separatist leaders allegedly involved in ‘terror’ funding case.
The charge sheet is filed in the NIA special court, Patiala House Court complex, in NIA No.RC-10/2017/NIA/DLI, according to the press
release. The charge sheet has been filed under sections 120BM121,121A, and 124A of the Indian Penal Court and sections 13,16,17,18,20,38,39 and 40 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act,1967. The agency in its charge sheet has charged Pakistan-based Hafiz Muhammad Saeed and Syed Salahuddin along with 10 others for criminal conspiracy, sedition, and under stringent provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Besides Saeed and Salahuddin, the agency has also named hardline pro-Pakistan separatists Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Bashir Ahmad Bhat, businessman Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali and photo journalist Kamran Yusuf, who has been identified along with Javed Ahmad Bhat as a stone pelter. Hurriyat Conference leaders Aftab Ahmad Shah, Altaf Ahmad Shah, Nayeem Ahmad Khan, Farooq Ahmad Dar alias Bitta Karate, Mohammad Akbar Khanday, Raja Mehrajuddin Kalwal and Bashir Ahmad Bhat have also been charged by the agency.
The agency has charged the Hurriyat leaders with acting under the overall guidance of and instructions from Saeed and Salahuddin and their “Pakistani handlers” and plotting strategies to launch violent protests. They communicated these to the people in the form of “protest calendars” released through newspapers, social media and religious leaders, it said. These acts aimed at creating an atmosphere of terror and fear in Jammu and Kashmir, the NIA alleged.
NIA officials said they had gathered substantial material and technical evidence during the probe. They said 60 locations were raided and 950 incriminating documents seized. There are 300 witnesses in the case. (KNB)