The NIA questioned pro-Pakistan separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s sons in connection with a terror funding probe on Wednesday, 9 August, allegedly involving Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed, official sources said.
It also questioned Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Superintendent of Police Faheem Ali, who handles separatist leader Mirwaiz Umer Farooq's security, in connection with the case.
Ali is the first police officer from the state to be interrogated by the NIA. While Geelani's elder son, Nayeem, is a surgeon, his younger son, Naseem, is a state government employee.
Nayeem is widely seen as the one who would succeed his father as the leader of the Tehrek-e-Hurriyat, a separatist conglomerate comprising pro-Pakistan hardline groups.
The brothers are being questioned in connection with a terror funding case which has named Saeed, leader of the Pakistan-based Jamaat-ud-Dawa and the banned terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba, as an accused, the sources said.
The NIA registered the case on 30 May, accusing separatist and secessionist leaders of working in collusion with terrorist groups.
The case is related to raising, receiving, and collecting funds through illegal means, including through hawala channels, for funding separatist and terror activities in Jammu and Kashmir.
It also included charges of causing disruption in the Valley by pelting security forces with stones, burning schools, damaging public property, and “waging war” against India.
The probe agency had conducted searches in several places in the state, besides Haryana and the national capital. Electronic devices and valuables worth crores of rupees were impounded.
It was the first time since the rise of militancy in the early 1990s that a central probe agency conducted raids in connection with the funding of terrorist and separatist groups.
(We all love to express ourselves, but how often do we do it in our mother tongue? Here's your chance! This Independence Day, khul ke bol with BOL – Love your Bhasha. Sing, write, perform, spew poetry – whatever you like – in your mother tongue. Send us your BOL at bol@thequint.com or WhatsApp it to 9910181818.)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)