Srinagar: The State Investigation Agency (SIA) on Saturday grilled senior Hurriyat leader Prof Abdul Gani Bhat for nearly eight hours after he was summoned by the probing agency at the Joint Inquiry Centre (JIC) Jammu in a case related to militant and Hawala funding. Bhat was questioned in connection with the funding of militancy and separatist activities in Jammu and Kashmir through various sources.
Former Chairman of All Parties Hurriyat Conference and President of Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference Professor Bhat's name had come up during the interrogation of former minister Jitendra Singh alias Babu Singh, who has been arrested on charges of funding separatist activities. The probe agency had sent him a notice for interrogation last week to which he complied and had a detailed discussion on the ongoing terrorist and separatist activities in Jammu and Kashmir.
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Professor Abdul Ghani Bhat is a separatist leader of Kashmir, who advocates dialogue with New Delhi on the Kashmir issue. He was sacked in February 1986 by the then-state government for his separatist ideology. At that time, he was a professor at a degree college in Poonch. Sources associated with the police said that Professor Bhat has shared important information about funds received from across the border to various Hurriyat leaders active in Kashmir for terrorist and separatist activities. Police sources said that the former Hurriyat leader will be questioned in the future as well as police suspect he has a key role to play in terror funding cases in the state.
