Properties of separatist Ayaz Akbar attached: NIA

New Delhi: A day after attaching 17 properties of terror financier Zahoor Ahmed Shah Watali, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Tuesday attached two more properties belonging to another accused, in the terror funding case in Kashmir.

A statement of the NIA issued here said that the properties of separatist All Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) leader Muhammad Akbar Khanday alias Ayaz Akbar including 9 kanal land and a 2-storeyed house in Srinagar had been attached.

The statement said that these properties had been attached on the orders of the Special NIA Court, New Delhi, under Section 33(1) of UAPA. 

“Khanday, currently in Tihar Jail, is facing trial in the terror funding case.

He was the spokesperson and media advisor of APHC (G). He was raising and collecting funds from within India and abroad through various illegal channels and was using the same to sponsor and promote separatist and terrorist activities in J&K,” the NIA statement said. “Khanday, who was closely connected with other separatist leaders of the APHC, was operating in close association with Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM). He used to collect funds for unlawful and violent activities. The NIA investigations revealed that he was also actively involved in activities aimed at secession of J&K from the Union of India.”

The statement said: “The case, filed suo moto by NIA in May 2017, relates to terrorist and secessionist activities being carried out by ISI-backed proscribed terrorist organisations in J&K.

The NIA investigations revealed that these banned outfits including Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM), Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) were using the APHC as a front for their activities.

They were spreading terror and perpetrating violence in Kashmir by promoting and conducting attacks on civilians and security forces.

The agency has so far filed chargesheet against 17 persons including Hafeez Saeed, the Ameer of Jamaat-ud-Dawah and LeT and a UN listed terrorist, as well as Muhammad Yusuf Shah alias Syed Salahuddin, the HM chief.”