Jammu & Kashmir: While conducting investigations into the funding of terror activities in Jammu and Kashmir, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has found that the separatists leaders who got funds from outside use it for their personal gains in addition to instigating protests.
The NIA questioned Dukhtaran-e-Millat, Asiya Andrabi about the educational expenses of her son who is studying in Malaysia. She said that the funds for her son’s education came from Zahoor Watali, who was arrested in a terror funding case. He received money from Pakistan, ISI, and the UAE by creating shell companies to hide the illegal money flow.
The money from these routes find their way to separatist leaders, terror activities, and to stone pelters.
Asiya Andrabi accepted that she used to collect donations from foreign sources and organized protests by Muslim women in the valley.
The NIA has questioned several top Hurriyat Conference leaders and they all have confessed to the fact that they have been receiving funds from Pakistan and other countries to fuel unrest in Kashmir and to engineer a separatists mentality among the people.
The NIA’s revelation supports the argument that stone pelting stopped just after the demonetization move on 8 November, 2016. When the money sources dried up, the stone pelting incidents also dipped. This exposed the hypocrisy of the Kashmiri unrest as just another insurgency initiated and financed by Pakistan and has nothing to do with freedom or oppression.
One extremist leader, Shabbir Shah has been running several successful businesses including a hotel from the money he received from Pakistan. He is reported to have made big money and also brought land in Jammu, Srinagar and Anantnag. Shabbir Shah is one among the many separatist leaders who has discovered the lucrative business of fueling unrest in Kashmir for financial gains.
The NIA registered a case in 2017 against terrorists of Jammat-ud-Dawa, Dukhtaran-e-Millat, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen and other separatist leaders for receiving money from foreign sources to instigate protests, violent attacks, stone pelting, and other terrorist activities in the State.
