Hurriyat leaders to go to NIA headquarters on 9 September, dare agency to 'keep Tihar doors open'

Just hours after the National Investigation Agency conducted raids at 16 places in Delhi and Srinagar, Hurriyat leaders have voluntarily decided to go to the agency’s headquarters on 9 September.

#BREAKING - Hurriyat leaders to voluntarily go to NIA headquarters on September 9. pic.twitter.com/J6bRj9h2dw

— News18 (@CNNnews18) September 6, 2017

News18 reported that Yasin Malik, Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and Syed Ali Shah Geelani are among the leaders who have dared the NIA. Malik sent a warning to the agency, saying “keep the doors of Tihar Jail open. We are coming.” In a press conference, they said that they have already arranged for their tickets and will volunteer their arrest before NIA. [caption id=“attachment_3877441” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. PTI[/caption] “We are going to hold a protest outside NIA headquarters in New Delhi against the harassment of pro-freedom leadership. We are ready to get arrested and be lodged in Tihar,” they said. While talking to the news channel, Mirwaiz said that what the NIA has done is not an investigation. He added that all the information was presented to the media and instead of an investigation, it is like a media trial. He added that the entire NIA drama is a propaganda because the leadership is scared and Hurriyat’s stand will not change now. He had previously said that the “Delhi-based media” was carrying out a smear campaign against the Hurriyat leadership at the behest of the government through “falsehoods and distortion of facts”, attempting to vitiate the atmosphere in India against the leadership. The NIA has been carrying out raids at the houses of separatist leaders in connection with terror funding. Since the raids started, seven top leaders have been detained by the NIA after several rounds of interrogation in Srinagar and New Delhi. The agency has also summoned both of Geelani’s sons. NIA has been hoping to question Geelani, Mirwaiz and Malik and is hopeful that they will collect sufficient evidence against them. The three separatist leaders are already on the NIA’s radar, sources told The New Indian Express. The NIA had registered a case on 30 May against separatist leaders for acting in connivance with militants of Hizbul Mujahideen, Lashkar-e-Taiba and other groups for raising, receiving and collecting funds through various illegal means including hawala for funding separatist and militant activities in Jammu and Kashmir.