Srinagar: In a terror funding case, the NIA Sunday attached the office of the separatist All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) at Rajbagh in Srinagar. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) sealed the Hurriyat office a day after the Delhi-based Special NIA Court issued an order allowing the agency's plea to attach the property of the APHC.
The NIA officials arrived at the Hurriyat office and pasted a copy of the attachment notice at the entrance of its office in Srinagar as per the court order. The latest court order said that Naeem Khan, who was arrested on July 24, 2017, is alleged to have raised, received, and collected funds “domestically as well as abroad through various channels including hawala for funding separatist and terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir”.
The attachment is pertaining to the NIA vs Mohammad Hafiz Saeed and others case which was registered under the UAPA (Unlawful Activities Prevention Act). In its petition, the NIA said, "there is sufficient evidence against Hurriyat leader Naeem Khan and he partly owns the property." The NIA has accused the Hurriyat and other militant organisations of funding the activities of terror groups in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Hurriyat Conference, formed in 1993, is an amalgam of 26 separatist outfits and its office has remained closed since August 2019 following a crackdown on the separatist groups by the government.
The NIA notice outside Hurriyat office reads as follows: "This is to inform all members of the public that the building where the office of All Party Hurriyat Conference is located at Rajbagh and is owned jointly by Nayeem Ahmad Khan, who is presently facing trial.. has been attached by the court order dated 27th January 2023 by Special NIA Court Patiala House, New Delhi," the notice read.
Also read:Srinagar office of Kashmir separatist group APHC to be attached under UAPA
Citing several judgments, the court observed that section 24 expands the expression of the “proceeds of terrorism” and makes it clear that such expression shall also include “any property intended to be used for terrorism”. The court also noted: “the APHC was the place where meetings were held to strategize different protests, funding activities of stone pelting on security forces, recruiting unemployed youths to carry out unlawfül activities as well as terrorist activities to create an unrest in the erstwhile State of Jammu & Kashmir to wage war against the Government of India.”
The NIA case has been registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the UAPA, against Pakistan-based militant Hafiz, members of the APHC and leaders of proscribed militant organizations like Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) and Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) others for “funding separatist and terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir”. The agency has also invoked the provisions of Section 33 (1) of UAPA to seek the attachment of the Hurriyat property.
Meanwhile, the All Parties Hurriyat Conference said, "Repeated storming on its Hurriyat office and its wide spread media telecast through state controlled media cannot yield any results. Whether it is the sponsored assaults on the office by paid goons or a few members of a certain community. Now in a lopsided court order, the office has been “attached” and in subsequent swift and dramatic action notices put up on its walls, signalling some kind of victory take over."
All Parties Hurriyat Conference said that "those in command and control of J&K should know that the sentiment and desire to see the resolution for the Kashmir conflict and to live in peace was embedded in the minds of people of Jammu and Kashmir. Hurriyat is a manifestation of that desire. Attaching buildings of stone and mortar will not detach people from their sentiment. They will continue to seek peaceful resolution."
The APHC once again sought the intervention of Rights organisations in India and outside to take serious note of the protracted detention of leaders, human rights activists, journalists, youth and others and speak with the Government of India for their immediate release.
