Terror funding case: Separatist Shabir Shah to be produced before court today

New Delhi: Separatist leader and Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) chairman Shabir Shah will be produced before the Patiala House Court here today.

Shah`s Enforcement Directorate (ED) remand was extended for a day on August 2, in connection with a terror funding case.

On July 26, Shah was produced in the Patiala House Court, following which he was sent to a seven-day ED custody. On July 25, Shah was arrested from his residence, where he was under house detention for a very long time, in Jammu and Kashmir`s Srinagar.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has been tough on Separatists regarding the alleged funding by Pakistan for illegal activities in Kashmir.

On July 24, the NIA arrested seven separatists over money laundering charges, for funding terror in the Kashmir Valley. All seven separatist leaders - Altaf Shah, Ayaz Akbar, Peer Saifullah, Mehraj Kalwal, Shahid-ul-Islam, Naeem Khan and Bitta Karate - were later sent to 10-day NIA custody. The accused have been charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

The NIA visited Srinagar in May to probe the alleged funding by Pakistan for illegal activities in Kashmir, and questioned several separatist leaders on the issue of raising, collecting and transferring funds via the Hawala route and other channels to fund terror activities in Kashmir. The NIA sleuths specifically questioned separatist leaders Farooq Ahmed Dar alias Bitta Karate and Gazi Javed Baba at that time. The NIA is said to be probing all aspects of funding to separatist leaders and how they reportedly used these funds to fuel unrest in the Kashmir Valley.