NIA quizzes separatist leaders after associate 'confesses' to receiving Pak, LeT funds for Kashmir unrest

New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday began its probe into allegations of funding by Pakistan to separatists in Kashmir, a long-held assertion by Indian intelligence now 'admitted' by a Hurriyat leader in a sting.

The sleuths from the NIA quizzed Hurriyat leaders for alleged “subversive acts in Kashmir with funds from Pakistan-based LeT terror group,” PTI reported.

Those who were being questioned include Farooq Ahmed Dar, alias Bitta Karate, and Gazi Javed Baba.

The news comes after Hurriyat suspended Naeem Khan from the organisation after he allegedly confessed to receiving money from Pakistan and LeT for Kashmir unrest.

Khan was heard admitting in a TV sting operation that he had received money from Pakistan to create unrest in the Valley.

He was reportedly summoned by Hurriyat Conference chief Syed Ali Shah Geelani to clarify on his statement before the suspension.

Khan, however, claimed that the sting operation was fake and doctored.

After the video surfaced, the NIA registered a preliminary probe against Khan, Tehreek-e-Hurriyat leader Gazi Javed Baba and Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (R) chairman Farooq Ahmed Dar.

Khan alleged the government is using the media to suppress his voice and said he is ready to face the probe.

Citing the probe agency, IANS reported that NIA has collected copies of at least 150 FIRs and are analysing these cases registered in the Valley recently, regarding damage caused to the schools and public property as part of the larger conspiracy to perpetuate violence and chaos in Kashmir.

The probe agency's move followed an expose by national news channel India Today purportedly showing Pakistan pumping money to stoke trouble in the valley in connivance with Hurriyat leaders.

The channel aired a sting on May 16 in which the Hurriyat leaders allegedly confessed to its reporter that they received money from Pakistan-based organisations routed through hawala.

Following the sting operation, the probe agency also identified the hotel in Srinagar in which the sting operation took place and it was completing formalities of identification of the room and collection of records.

The agency is also probing all angles, the official said.

Following the NIA probe into the funding, the Enforcement Directorate, which probes economic offences, had said that it would also join the NIA probe into the matter of funding through hawala channels - an illegal cash transfer system across borders run by money brokers.

(With agency inputs)