NIA Keeps Up Heat On Kashmiri Separatists, Recovers ‘Protest Calendars’, Continues Raids  

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has recovered a detailed protest calendar issued and signed by Kashmiri separatist Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, reports The Times of India.

The ‘protest calendar’ recovered from Geelani’s son-in-law Altaf Ahmad Shah ‘Funtoosh’ is said to have a detailed listing of various protests and other unrest related activities that were scheduled to be carried out on different days following the shooting of Hizbul Mujahiddeen leader Burhan Wani.

It also provides details of the role of Pakistani handlers who worked in coordination with the separatists to organise different events that caused widespread violence in Kashmir. The NIA investigations reveal that the protests aimed at creating turmoil in the Valley were jointly funded by the Hurriyat and Pakistani agencies.

The following is the timeline of events for August 2016 as listed in the calendar that was recovered:

6 August: Assemble and occupy local chowks and centres in the vicinity of mohallas, villages and localities; playing of Islamic and azadi taranas in masjids.

8 August: Block all roads towards and around the civil secretariat in Srinagar, Tehsil offices so that no employee can report to work. Geelani 'directed' that "deputy commissioners have to desist from calling employees over phone and pressurising them to resume duty"

9 August: A ‘women’s protest’, playing of Azadi songs in masjids.

11 August: Issue a poster letter to all pro-India politicians and their workers including panchs and sarpanchs asking them to resign from their post. The letter was to be posted on the gates of their homes.

The agencies also raided and questioned Jammu and Kashmir Social Peace Forum (JKSPF) chairman Devinder Singh Behal. JKSPF is said to be a part of Geelani’s faction of the All Party Hurriyat Conference. Four mobile phones, a tablet, other electronic devices and documents related to terror funding probe, and some financial documents were among the things that were recovered from Behal’s house and office premises during the raid.

Behal, a member of the Hurriyat's legal cell who is suspected to be involved in routing funds to separatist leaders from Pakistani based handlers, is “a close associate of a top Hurriyat leader and regularly attends funerals of militants," said NIA spokesperson Inspector General Alok Mittal.