NEWSLINKS US EDITION SOUTH ASIA COLUMNISTS DIARY SPECIALS INTERVIEWS CAPITAL BUZZ REDIFF POLL DEAR REDIFF THE STATES ELECTIONS ARCHIVES SEARCH REDIFF
Security forces have busted yet another channel of funding terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir with the arrest of four persons, including a Srinagar-based businessman.
The four arrested persons -- Mohammed Safi Mir, a resident of Lal Bazar, Yaqoob Vakil, a conduit of Al Umar, Abdul Majid Dar, manager of Safi and Hyatt Ahmed Bhat, accountant of Mir -- were charged with providing funds to pro-Pakistan militant outfits Al Umar Mujahideen and Hizbul Mujahideen, highly placed sources said on Friday.
All the four have been booked under POTA, the sources said.
The arrests were made just a fortnight after security agencies along with Income Tax department officials raided the premises of senior All-Parties Hurriyat Conference leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani for allegedly receiving funds from Pakistan.
Geelani and his two sons-in-law were arrested on June nine under Public Safety Act and Official Secrets Act.
According to sources, Safi, the businessman, was receiving funds from his Dubai-based son Naseer Safi Mir.
During interrogation, Safi claimed that his son used to receive money from Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence and top brass of the militant outfits based in Islamabad.
Terming Safi as the kingpin in the case, the sources claimed that he had even accepted during interrogation that he had presented a Tata Sumo to Geelani, funds for which were provided by Hizb chief Syed Salahuddin.
Vakil, said to be a conduit of Al Umar Mujahideen, during his interrogation revealed that he had distributed nearly Rs five million among various cadres of the militant outfit on directions from the outfit's chief Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar, according to the sources.
Zargar was one of the three militants released to end the seven-day hijacking of the Indian Airlines plane IC-814 in Kandahar in December 1999.
Safi also told the interrogators that he was 'instrumental' in passing on Rs 50 million to various militant outfits during the period from 1994, the sources claimed.
They alleged that Abdul Majid Dar, manager of the businessman and Hyat Ahmed Bhat, Safi's accountant, had also allegedly helped their boss in 'disbursement' of the money to various militant outfits.
The 'business channel' was found after the arrest of an editor of a local monthly magazine Imtiaz Bazaz who had received funds from a Kashmiri separatist leader Ayub Thakur through his London-based NGO Mercy Universal, which claims to be engaged in humanitarian work.
The state administration along with central agencies began their crack down in the first week of December last year and netted whopping Rs 35 million this year, the sources said.
Confessions by various militants have revealed that ISI and 'Tanzeems' governing some of the militant outfits in Kashmir had started sending money to carpet dealers, who were mainly of Kashmiri origin.
Originating from Pakistan, money is routed through various channels to carpet dealers in Dubai who accommodate this in their book of accounts by over-invoicing their business and showing huge profit, they said.
Tell us what you think of this report
