NIA Summons MLA Er Rasheed

Srinagar—Independent Kashmir Legislator Sheikh Abdul Rasheed has been summoned by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for questioning in connection with the case of alleged funding terror activities in the Valley.

Popularly known as Engineer Rasheed, the firebrand J&K legislator is the first unionist politician to be summoned by the agency in the case, officials said.

Rasheed has been called for questioning on October 3. His name had come up during the interrogation of businessman Zahoor Watali, who was held by the NIA for purportedly supplying money to terror outfits and separatists in the insurgent-hit Valley, New Delhi based media reported.

Officials said that the NIA had lodged a case on May 30 against Hurriyat leaders who have allegedly been supporting active militants of organisations like Hizbul Mujahideen, Dukhtaran-e-Millat, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and other outfits.

In the FIR, the probe agency stated that the case was registered on the charges of “raising, receiving and collecting funds through various illegal means, including hawala, for funding separatist and terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir and for causing disruption in the Valley through pelting stones on the security forces, burning schools, damaging public property and waging war against India”.

Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed has been named among the accused in the FIR, which also named organisations such as the two factions of the Hurriyat, one led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani and the other by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, the Hizbul Mujahideen and the Dukhtaran-e-Millat, an all-women outfit of separatists.

So far, the NIA has arrested 10 people in connection with the case. Altaf Ahmed Shah, Geelani’s son-in-law, and Watali are among the accused who have been arrested in the case.—-

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