Masarat Alam Bhat exposes Hurriyat funding network, NIA claims

June 18, 2019 by News Desk

Hardline separatist leader, Masarat Alam Bhat has exposed the Hurriyat funding network and also revealed how senior separatist leaders received large sums of money from abroad, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has claimed.

Alam also exposed how the funds were diverted them for personal gains ranging from amassing property to funding the foreign education of their children.

According to the agency, several leaders of the Hurriyat Conference and allied organisations confessed during interrogation that funds were regularly routed from Pakistan to fuel unrest and sustain separatist activities in the Valley.

A key disclosure, NIA officials said, came from hardline separatist Masarat Alam Bhat, who revealed deep fissures within the Hurriyat over both the collection and use of funds. Alam reportedly told investigators that the leadership was divided over whether the money should be spent solely on political mobilization or also for personal sustenance. He is also said to have pointed to JKLF chief Yasin Malik as a central figure in spearheading the 2016 unrest following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani. “He also revealed that there are internal rifts in Hurriyat over how these funds are collected and used,” NIA revealed.

The NIA registered a case in May 2017 against Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jamaat-ud-Dawah, Hizbul Mujahideen, Dukhtaran-e-Millat, and separatist leaders, accusing them of raising and collecting funds to support militancy and anti-India protests in Kashmir. The charges included conspiring to cause disruption and wage war against India.

Since then, the agency has filed chargesheets against 13 accused, including Pakistan-based JuD chief Hafiz Saeed, Hizbul chief Syed Salahuddin, seven separatist leaders, and two hawala conduits. Among those named was prominent Kashmiri businessman Zahoor Ahmad Watali, described by the NIA as a “key hawala operator” who generated and received funds from Pakistan, the ISI, and the UAE. Investigators alleged he disguised these inflows through shell companies before passing them on to separatist leaders and even stone-pelters.

“Crucial electronic and documentary evidence was recovered which point towards a pattern of raising, collection, transfer and use of funds for militant and separatist activities,” an NIA spokesperson said.