Is there a political vendetta behind the crackdown by the National Investigation Agency on separatist leaders in the Valley, or is the central agency just acting professionally? This is the question haunting the political space in Kashmir which has been witnessing NIA sleuths zipping in and out over the last several months raiding and quizzing separatist leaders on allegations of terror funding and links with Pakistani terror outfits and their patrons like Hafiz Saeed.
On Monday, seven separatist leaders including hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani's son-in-law Altaf Shah were arrested by the agency in connection with the terror funding case. They are accused of fuelling last year's unrest in the Valley, which left scores of people dead.
These leaders were called on Monday morning at the NIA's local office at the BSF camp in Humhama for questioning and arrested soon afterwards. They are expected to be flown to the capital, possibly in a special plane, and produced before the court.
The media were already on their toes as the NIA went with all guns blazing to display its seriousness in cracking down on terror funding. Political leaders in the Valley are livid as they are viewing such moves of the NIA as "mere eyewash".
"These raids and arrests must be followed by some concrete evidence. If anyone has acted against the law, action must be taken and law should be allowed to take its own course. But the NIA action should not be an act of vindictiveness or even appear to be vindictive," Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Party Nationalist chairman Ghulam Hassan Mir told THE WEEK. He further said that similar moves were made by previous governments at the Centre but nothing came out of these probes.
"It's not the first time any government is cracking down on separatist leaders. But they could not support it with evidence," he said.
Interestingly, the Congress party in the Valley is also watching the developments closely. Speaking to THE WEEK, Ghulam Ahmed Mir, president of the JK Pradesh Congress Committee said that the NIA must quickly come out with concrete evidence against those who are the real culprits even as he accused the central agency of undue delay in its investigations.
"The action must now be followed by concrete evidence. Why is the agency taking action only against the seemingly weak leaders? What about any big names? It seems only tokenism, and there is a votebank angle to it ," he said . Mir pointed out that elections are due in many states like Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat and Odisha and that the BJP is likely to use this action in the Valley for its political gains.
"Elections are going to be held in these states in coming months and years. What the BJP is trying to do is to display more action to the media than taking any real step on the ground," he said. He questioned why the NIA sleuths have been calling the separatists for questioning and leaving them only to call them time and again.
"First the NIA decides they need to be summoned. Then they decide they need to be let off. And then they are called again. Such action is only to show the media and generate attention of the public. But the reality the civil society wants to know is what they are guilty of and where the evidence is. It is time the NIA acted fast and showed concrete evidence," he said.
The NIA, meanwhile, said that it had found enough evidence to prove the complicity of the arrested leaders in fuelling unrest in the Valley and that the probe was on. Besides Altaf Shah, the others arrested are Tehreek-e-Hurriyat's Ayaz Akbar, Mehrajuddin Kalwal and Shahid-ul-Islam of the Hurriyat, Naeem Khan of the Jammu Kashmir National Front and separatist leaders Peer Saifullah and Bitta Karatay, who has been arrested from Delhi. The others were arrested from Srinagar..
Sources in NIA said the six arrested would be brought to the capital and produced before the NIA special court in Patiala House on Tuesday.
