NIA Chargesheet 'Concoction Of Falsehoods': Hurriyat

SRINAGAR: Terming the charge-sheet filed today by the National Investigations Agency into 'terror funding' case as “concoction of falsehoods”, the joint Hurriyat leadership accused the Centre of projecting the ongoing “military crackdown” on separatists in Kashmir as return of normalcy.

“This (military) approach by the government of India and the whole manner in which the NIA charge sheet is being projected to give the impression that all the kingpin are behind the bars, that a major breakthrough has been made, and that is why there is silence …. what is silent in Kashmir,” moderate Hurriyat chief Mirwaiz Umar Farooq told reporters.

“Religious rights, political rights, social rights, civil rights have been usurped. We are not even allowed to meet. We are not even allowed to go to the mosque. We are not even allowed to offer prayers. We are not even allowed to have closed door meetings and seminars,” he said.

The joint Hurriyat called a press conference today at the Nigeen residence of Mirwaiz, hours after the NIA filed the charge-sheet. While JKLF chief was allowed by the authorities to reach the venue, veteran Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Geelani, who remains under house-arrest, addressed the presser over phone.

The octogenarian leader said the Hurriyat Conference “will not surrender no matter how much pressure New Delhi builds on the amalgam by using its military policies”, “The charge-sheet against Kashmiri separatist leaders and a businessman is baseless and a concoction of falsehoods. Our leaders have been kidnapped by Delhi and lodged in Tihar jail where they are being subjected to worse treatment in order to break their resolve”.

On the Army chief Bipin Rawat’s remarks, Geelani said deliberate attempts are being made to link Kashmir's political struggle with terrorism, “These threats can’t force us into submission. Our struggle will continue on all fronts. It is a peaceful movement and connecting us with the terrorism is a mere ploy to defame our struggle,” he said.

Addressing reporters, Malik said New Delhi is “using NIA as a tool to force people of Kashmir to remain silent”, “We can not close our eyes to the happenings around us. The military approach has further alienated the people who are fighting for their just political right which is the right to self-determination,” he said.

The NIA today filed a 12794 page charge-sheet into the so called terror funding case which was filed by the agency on May 30 last year after a middle-rung separatist, Nayeem Khan, was caught on camera claiming that the Hurriyat was capable of fanning protests in Kashmir, provided they had financial backing. The first arrests were made on July 24.

The charge-sheet, filed at the NIA special court in New Delhi, names 12 persons, including a photo journalist working with local daily, Kamran Yusuf, as an accused. Jamaat-u-Dawah chief Hafiz Sayeed and chairman of United Jihad Council, Syed Salahudin are among the dozen accused booked in the case.

Those arrested in the case include Altaf Shah, son-in-law of Geelani, Shahid-ul-Islam, Mirwaiz's political advisor and Mehraj-ud-Din Kalwal who is a senior JKLF leader. In its charge-sheet, the agency claimed that searches were conducted at 60 locations spread over Delhi, Haryana and J&K.

“Over 950 incriminating documents and over 600 electronic devices were recovered during the searches. During the investigation, over 300 witnesses were examined and based on scientific and oral evidence, the accused have been involved in a well planned criminal conspiracy to wage war against the government of India,” the charge-sheet reads.