A day after separatist leaders offered to court arrest before the National Investigation Agency (NIA), houses of some of their close aides were raided on Thursday.
The agency is probing the alleged funding of separatists to fuel unrest in J&K.
The office and house of the influential Shia separatist leader Aga Syed Hasan Almosvi Alsafvi in Budgam were raided in the morning. In south Kashmir’s Bijbehara area, Ghulam Nabi Sumji’s house was raided. Both Mr. Alsafvi and Mr. Sumji are associated with the Hurriyat led by Syed Ali Geelani.
NIA sleuths also raided the houses of Showkat Bakshi, a close aide of JKLF chief Yasin Malik, and his brother Shakeel Bakshi in Srinagar’s Bemina area.
Zameer Ahman, a close aide of separatist leader Shabir Ahmad Shah who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on July 25, was quizzed at Gulshan Nagar-Nowgam in Srinagar. The house of another of Mr. Shah’s associates, Choudhary Razak, in Jammu was also searched.
More raids
Houses of a chartered accountant and two businessmen were also searched in Kashmir. Sources said two houses and a shopping complex were raided by the NIA in Srinagar and Kupwara.
The fresh raids at over 10 places came a day after Mr. Geelani, Mr. Malik and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq announced their move to court arrests before the NIA in Delhi on September 9.
Meanwhile, the authorities placed Mr. Geelani and the Mirwaiz under house arrest. Mr. Malik was shifted to the Central Jail, Srinagar. The separatists have called for a shutdown on September 10 against the visit of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
After the NIA summoned Kashmir High Court Bar Association (HCBA) president Mian Abdul Qayoom to Delhi, the association on Thursday wrote an open letter to the Chief Justice of India.
“J&K HCBA has decided to go on a strike. The president of the association has been summoned as a witness. The NIA can record the statement of a witness at his place of residence if he is less than 15 or more than 65 years of age. Mr. Qayoom is more than 65,” reads the letter written by Anwar-ul-Islam Shaheen, joint secretary of the association.
“Mr. Qayoom’s only fault is that he is one of the front runners in seeking resolution of the Kashmir dispute,” says the letter.
