M A I N   N E W S

Pak diplomat accused of funding APHC
Denying charge, Hurriyat seeks probe
Tribune News Service and PTI

New Delhi, February 7
A Delhi court today remanded the two Hurriyat leaders arrested on Thursday for allegedly receiving funds from the Pakistan High Commission in 10 days’ police custody.

The woman accused, Anjum Zamrooda Habib, admitted before Special Judge S.N. Dhingra that she had received the money from Pakistani Deputy High Commissioner Jaleel Abbas Gilani to be paid as “nazrana” to Hurriyat Conference Chairman Abdul Ghani Bhat.

Habib categorically denied having links with any militant outfits and said that she had gone to the Pakistan High Commission only on the request of the Hurriyat Chairman to collect a book titled “Independent Survey of Elections”.

Another accused, Shabir Ahmed Dhar, also admitted before court that the money seized from his house was given to him by the Hurriyat Conference to look after the affairs of the Kashmir Awareness Bureau managed by him in Delhi.

The police also sought for the custodial interrogation of the accused, following the recovery of a list containing names of terrorists and some Pakistani militants lodged in the Tihar Jail, from the Kashmir Awareness Bureau. The police said that over Rs 2 lakh was seized from Dhar’s house.

The Delhi Police Special Cell on a tip-off arrested the woman from near Nehru Park on Thursday. She belongs to the Khwateen-e-Markaz, a wing of the All-Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC).

The sleuths recovered Rs 3.70 lakh from Habib’s possession during which she revealed that the money was meant for supporting terrorist activities in Kashmir. From the Kashmir Awareness Bureau in Malviya Nagar, the police seized another Rs 2 lakh, video films and some incriminating documents.

He was also arrested for allegedly receiving funds from the Pakistan High Commission for passing them on to militant outfits in Jammu and Kashmir.

The Delhi police, which has named the Deputy High Commissioner of the Pakistan High Commission in the FIR, has sent its report to the Ministry of Home Affairs, the police said. Meanwhile, dismissing the allegation as “vicious propaganda”, Pakistan High Commission said it has lodged a strong protest with the External Affairs Ministry. A high commission press note said the incident would further vitiate the already tense Indo-Pak relations. In Srinagar the APHC today demanded the appointment of Mr I.K. Gujral, Mr Kuldeep Nayar and Mr Ravi Nair to probe into allegations that the money recovered from their Delhi office was given to them by the Pakistan High Commission.