Pakistan’s ISI Provided Kashmiri Separatists Rs 800 Crore To Fuel Uprising In The Valley

Pakistan’s infamous intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), supplied Rs 800 crore to pro-Pakistan separatist leaders like Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Asiya Andrabi in Kashmir to fuel an uprising against the Indian state, One India news reported on Sunday (2 April).

Citing an Intelligence Bureau (IB) report, the news portal said in its brief that the fund was transferred to separatist leaders through various channels and the flow of illicit money slowed down after November 2016. According to the IB report, stone-pelters and petrol-bomb throwers were paid for by the leaders using funds supplied by the ISI.

The IB says in its report that Pakistan had plotted an uprising in the Valley much before July 2016, and states that the encounter of Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani helped ISI ignite rebellious protests throughout the Valley.

A large chunk of the fund was sent through terrorists that crossed over from terror launchpads located in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The cash, in turn, was hand-delivered to touts of the separatists. Hawala channels, as revealed in the past, were also used to facilitate the flow of funds.

Other than paying the stone-pelting mob, this fund was used for targeted propaganda against the Indian state and the security forces deployed in the Valley. Young protesters were also paid to raise flags of the Islamic State during protests.