Terror funding: NIA raids several places including NGOs, human rights activist’s house in Srinagar

Srinagar: The NIA on Wednesday searched 10 locations in the Valley and one in Bangalore in connection with a case related to NGOs and trusts diverting funds meant for charitable activities to secessionist and separatist activities in Jammu and Kashmir, officials said. Several incriminating documents and electronic devices were seized, the National Investigation Agency said in a statement. Those whose premises were searched include Khurram Parvez (coordinator of the J&K Coalition of Civil Society), his associates Parvez Ahmad Bukhari, Parvez Ahmad Matta, and Bangalore-based associate Swati Sheshadri as well as Parveena Ahanger, chairperson of the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP). The offices of the NGO Athrout and GK Trust were also searched, the statement added. “Today (28/10/2020), NIA conducted searches at 10 locations in Srinagar and Bandipora and one location in Bangalore in connection with a case pertaining to certain so-called NGOs and Trusts raising funds in India and abroad in the name of charitable activities and then using those funds for carrying out secessionist and separatist activities in J&K”, the agency said. The case was registered on 8 October under various sections of the IPC and the UAPA on receiving credible information that certain NGOs and Trusts are collecting funds domestically and abroad through so-called donations and business contributions and then using them to fund terror activities in Jammu and Kashmir, it said. Officials said the NIA team was assisted by local police and paramilitary forces when it searched the office of the trust located on the premises of a prominent English daily in Srinagar. At least three other NGOs founded in 2000 were raided by the NIA for alleged terror funding in Jammu and Kashmir, they said. According to the NIA, these NGOs were receiving money from undisclosed donors which were being used for funding terror activities, they added.