National Investigation Agency attaches properties of Hurriyat leader in terror funding case

Srinagar: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday attached properties of a Hurriyat leader in a terror funding case here, a day after attaching 17 properties of alleged terror financier and businessman Zahoor Ahmed Shah Watali.

Properties of All Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) separatist leader Mohammad Akbar Khanday alias Ayaz Akbar include nine kanal of land and a two-storeyed house in Srinagar. These were attached on the orders of Special NIA Court, New Delhi, under section 33(1) of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), the agency said in a statement.

Khanday, currently lodged in Tihar Jail facing trial in the terror funding case, was the spokesperson-cum-media advisor of the Hurriyat Conference faction led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani.

"He was raising and collecting funds from within India and abroad through various illegal channels and was using the same to sponsor and promote separatist and terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir," the NIA said.

Khanday, who was closely connected with other separatist leaders of the APHC, was operating in close association with Hizb-ul-Mujahideen and used to collect funds for unlawful and violent activities, it said, adding he was also actively involved in activities aimed at secession of Jammu and Kashmir from the Union of India.

The case, filed suo moto by the NIA in May 2017, relates to terrorist and secessionist activities being carried out by ISI-backed proscribed terrorist organisations in Jammu and Kashmir.

These banned outfits, including Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), were using the APHC as a front for their activities, the NIA said.

They were spreading terror and perpetrating violence in the Kashmir Valley by promoting and conducting attacks on civilians and security forces, it said.

The agency has so far filed chargehsheets against 17 persons, including Hafeez Saeed, the "Amir" of Jamaat-ud-Dawah and LeT and a UN listed terrorist, as well as Mohammad Yusuf Shah alais Syed Salahuddin, the Chief of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen.

The NIA on Monday said 17 properties belonging to "financier of terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir" Watali in the Handwara area of Kupwara district were attached on the orders of Special NIA Court, Patiala House, under section 33(1) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.