The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has asked senior separatist leader and chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front Yasin Malik to appear before it in September with respect to a case involving violation of foreign exchange regulations.
Malik has been asked to appear before the ED in person or through an authorised representative on September 5 or 6.
The notice to Malik was issued under Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) for an alleged foreign exchange regulation violation amounting to Rs 48.23 lakh in 2001.
Jammu and Kashmir Police had seized $100,000 (about Rs 48.23 lakh the value in Indian currency at that time) from Mushtaq Ahmad Dar and his wife Shamima alias Shazia alias Bitti.
Dar had revealed to police that the money was meant for Malik.
He told police the money was given by a person in Nepal. When the case was registered, Malik was arrested but released on bail.
The ED notice sent to Malik, Dar and Shamima reads, ''This is to inform you that after considering the cause shown by you to the show cause notice, the assistant director is of the opinion that adjudication proceedings as contemplated in subsection 1 of Section 13 of the Foreign Exchange Management Act 1999 should be held against you.”
“You are required to present yourself personally or through authorised representative before the assistant director for personal hearing on September 5 or September 06 at 10:30am at zonal office, Durani House, near Rajbagh police station, Srinagar,” reads the notice.
The notice warns the three persons against neglecting or refusing to appear as required by sub-rule 3 before the adjudication authority under Rule 4 (7) of the Foreign Exchange Management Adjudication Proceedings and Appeal Rule, 2000.
Malik is part of the separatist Joint Resistance Leadership, which had threatened to launch a mass agitation if the Supreme Court struck down Article 35A of the Constitution that authorises the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly to define permanent residents of the state and reserves rights for them to own land, seek government jobs and participate in elections.
Article 35A, also called Jammu State Subjects law, bars those who are not permanent residents of the state from owning property and settling in the state.
Kashmir and parts of Jammu have witnessed continuous protest against the move to get Article 35A scrapped by the Supreme Court.