Pakistan embassy officials involved in Kashmir terror funding: NIA

New Delhi, Jan 18 : Several Pakistan embassy officials were involved in terror funding in Jammu and Kashmir and the money was routed from that country via Dubai, the NIA has said in its chargesheet filed in a court on Thursday.

The 64-page operative part of the nearly 13,000-page chargesheet mentions that “some senior Pakistani embassy officials” gave money to Hurriyat leaders, including Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s son-in-law Altaf Shah, for carrying out terror attacks, orchestrating violence, stone pelting and other subversive and secessionist activities in Jammu and Kashmir.

The allegations were also mentioned in 232 pages of witness testimony in the chargesheet.

Asked why the chargesheet did not mention names of any Pakistan embassy official, an NIA official privy to the investigation told IANS: “We have enough oral, circumstantial evidences and the testimony of several witnesses against several Pakistani embassy officials. As the investigation in the case is still on, their names were not mentioned.”

But the names might be revealed during the proceedings of the case, said the official on condition of anonymity.

The court is likely to take on January 30 the cognizance of the NIA charges against 12 accused, including seven Hurriyat leaders.

The NIA chargesheet, based on a case registered by the counter-terror agency on May 30 last year, revealed that “the illegal money was trasferred to the separatist leaders from Pakistan via Dubai”.

It named prominent Kashmiri businessman Zahoor Watali, one of the accused, who allegedly was a conduit for transferring funds from Pakistan to Kashmiri separatists through business operations in Dubai.

“The money was also routed through fake and bogus companies floated in Dubai and remitted to the Hurriyat leaders in Jammu and Kashmir,” said the chargesheet.

Another NIA official, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity, said LeT chief Hafiz Saeed — blamed for the 2008 Mumbai terror attack — and Hizbul Mujahideen leader Syed Salahuddin, both of who are now based in Pakistan, knew about “every transactions being pumped for terror acts in Jammu and Kashmir”.

IANS