Engineer Rasheed appears before NIA in terror funding case

New Delhi, October 3: Independent legislator of Jammu and Kashmir and Awami Ittehad Party chairman Engineer Rasheed on Tuesday morning appeared before the National Investigation Agency in New Delhi in connection with its ongoing investigation into terror funding case.

 

Notably, Engineer Rasheed is the first mainstream politician to have been summoned by the NIA in the terror funding case. However, Rasheed while going to NIA headquarters with a file and documents, said he had nothing to hide. Rasheed further noted that he approached the speaker of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly to initiate a probe and find out the truth. He said that he has full faith in the justice system.

The National Investigation Agency on September 28 of this year summoned Engineer Rasheed in terror funding case to appear before it on October 3 at its headquarters in New Delhi. Rasheed’s name had come up after businessman Zahoor Watali was arrested by NIA in terror funding case.

NIA has also conducted many raids in past several months. The case came into the limelight after a sting operation surfaced in which he purportedly confessed by Nayeem Khan to receiving funds from Pakistan to create unrest in the Kashmir Valley. After this, Geelani suspended Khan from the basic membership of Hurriyat conference in May.

Hafeez Saeed, a Pakistan-based chief of the Jamaat-ud Dawa, the front of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba, has been named in the FIR as an accused, in addition to organizations such as the Hurriyat Conference, Hizbul Mujaheedin and Dukhtaran-e-Milat. The NIA in the same context had also searched the premises of others like Shahid-ul-Islam, an aide of Farooq's, who heads the moderate faction of the Hurriyat Conference. The NIA had recovered some account books, Rs 2 crore in cash and letterheads of banned terror groups, including the LeT and the Hizbul Mujahideen, during its searches.

In 2002, the Income Tax department had raided the establishments of some separatist leaders, including Geelani, and seized cash and documents. Interestingly, this the first time since the rise of militancy in Kashmir in the early 1990s, NIA had carried out raids in connection with the funding of separatists.