NIA summons Geelani`s son Naseem to appear as witness before it in terror funding case
Srinagar, December 24: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) in a bid to curb terror funding and subversive activities in the valley on Monday summoned Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani's son Naseem-ul-Zaffar Geelani to appear before it at its headquarters in New Delhi.
Notably, the central probe agency summoned Naseem-ul-Zaffar Geelani to appear before it at its headquarters in New Delhi at 26th of December this year by 11 AM in connection with the probe into the terror funding case as a witness.
However, Geelani’s son was earlier summoned to NIA headquarters twice in August. After several rounds of questioning, he was allowed to return to Kashmir. On his return, Naseem told media that he was given a clean chit by the NIA.
The action of NIA came after July 30 when the probe agency raided the house and office of Devinder Singh Behl in money laundering case and arrested him from his residence. The arrest of Devinder Singh Behl comes after the central agency arrested seven Kashmiri separatist leaders including Hurriyat chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s son-in-law Altaf Shah and moderate Hurriyat chairman’s close aide Shahid-ul-Islam in connection with its probe into the funding of terror and subversive activities in Kashmir.
The case came into 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 this year.
Hafeez Saeed who is 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.