JEI Militant Funding Case: NIA Conducted Searches At 16 Locations Across JK

Srinagar :  National Investigation Agency on thursday said that it carried Searches at 16 locations across J&K in connection with Jamaat-e-Islami militant funding case.

In a handout to the NIA said that as part of its continuing crackdown on militant funding in Jammu and Kashmir, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday conducted searches at multiple locations in a case related to separatist and secessionist activities of the banned Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI).

According to spokesman, JEI has been found carrying out militant funding activities in Jammu and Kashmir, even after being declared an unlawful association under the UA(P) Act on 28th February 2019. NIA had filed a chargesheet in the case (RC-03/2021/NIA/DLI) in Special Court, Patiala House, New Delhi, on 12th May 2022 against four accused. It had earlier registered a suo motu case in the matter on 5th February 2021.

The searches were conducted today at the premises of JeI (J&K) members and supporters, at 16 locations, including 11 in District Baramulla in Kashmir valley and the remaining 5 located in District Kishtwar in Jammu region. Several incriminating materials and digital devices were seized during the searches and were being examined for more clues in the case, he said.

NIA investigations so far have revealed that JeI (J&K) members had been collecting funds domestically and from abroad through donations, particularly in the form of zakat, mowda and bait-ul-mal, as well as for purported charitable purposes, such as promotion of education and health. The funds were, instead, being used for violent and secessionist activities in J&K. They were also being channelled to proscribed militant organisations, such as Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM), Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and others through well organised networks of JeI cadres, he said.

Further, as per the investigations, JeI was also engaged in motivating impressionable youth of Kashmir and recruiting new members (Rukuns) in J&K for carrying out violent, disruptive and secessionist activities, he said.

 Previous investigations by the NIA had revealed that one of the four arrested accused, identified as Javaid Ahmad Lone, had been soliciting funds and organising meetings in the name of JeI, J&K. He had been delivering hateful anti-India speeches and exhorting people to make donations at these meetings. Along with Aadil Ahmad Lone, he had also acquired firearms and ammunition with ulterior motives from the other two accused, identified as Manzoor Ahmad Dar and Rameez Ahmad Kondu, reads the statement.(GNS)