Geelani payoff: Every separatist has made money their master

New Delhi, July 4: The former chief of the Research and Analysis Wing, A S Dulat has made an interesting revelation that Kashmir separatist, Syed Ali Shah Geelani was wired a huge amount of money through a hawala deal.

Dulat says in his book Kashmir- The Vajpayee years that Geelani that the money was wired a huge amount of money from Ayub Thakur an ISI agent based out of London.

Dulat says in his book that when the Intelligence Bureau interrogated a person in the case, it came to light that the money was coming to Geelani through Ayub Thakur.

This was the same time that the ISI was paying off huge sums of money in a bid to nurture him, Dulat also writes.

Money their master:

Kashmir separatists often have proclaimed that independence of the state is in their blood. However the real picture if one goes by the accounts of the various investigations that have been conducted suggests that money is what has been driving factor. Pakistan has roped in these separatists only with an intent of keep the Kashmir fire going and the prime intention was to ensure that there is no peace in the state.

There are at least five different cases pertaining to the money that the separatists have been getting. The payout has been estimated at several million US dollars over the past couple of years. The money is paid with just one intent and that is to ensure that all forms of peace talks or negotiations are blocked.

The Hira Lal case files:

The most recent investigation pertaining to the payouts to the separatists was in the Hira Lal case. It was the year 2011 and the police had arrested a person by the name Hira Lal. He was in possession of fake currency and had been picked up from a hotel in Srinagar.

He told the police that had been tasked to hand over funds to Kashmiri separatists and he had passed on Rs 30 million to the Lone brothers. He also said that the money to be paid off to the separatists was provided to him by the Pakistan's High Commission.

This case was handed over to the National Investigating Agency and it was found that over the years operatives were getting in huge chunks of money from the embassies and the high commission which were meant to be routed to the separatists.

The Hira Lal investigation also found that the ISI had hired several businessmen from Punjab to move the money into Kashmir through a hawala deal. Hira Lal also revealed that the money was also being pumped in under the guise of trade along the Line of Control.

The ED investigation:

WhWhen the Enforcement directorate took over the investigation they had found that the between 2009 and 2011, there were various hawala transactions that had been made. It was found that all the money that had come in from the various sources had landed in the accounts of the separatists.

The ED later found that there were around 50 persons involved in these operations and they had been using the LOC trade route to move hawala money. It was at this time that the ED had also discovered that some members from Saudi Arabia had routed money to the tune of Rs 90 lakh into Pakistan which was moved to Kashmir to pay off the separatists.

The Geelani case:

As pointed out by A S Dulat, the strongest case that had been made out was against Geelani. It was noted in the various investigations that were conducted that he had managed to get in funds from various channels.

An investigation report revealed that there was close to Rs 198 million that had been pumped in to sponsor Geelani and his men.

During the investigation into this case, the payment made by Ghulam Mohammad Bhat a close aide of Geelani also came to light. He told the NIA that there was a sum of Rs 2 million that had been paid to the Hizbul once. Bhat had also revealed about a transaction amounting to Rs 45 million that came in from Pakistan only with an intent of disrupting peace in Kashmir. He said that the Rs 45 million came in installments between 2008 and 2010.

One of the most controversial separatists is Yasin Malik. His name had cropped up when a woman called Shazia Begum named him. She had alleged that she was asked to pay 10,000 US dollars to Malik.

The investigators had learnt that ISI sponsored NGOs in the US had pumped in large sums of money into Malik's account. He had managed to strike a deal with these NGOs in the year 2001. He had even visited the US the same year and built a relation with these NGOs, investigations have also revealed.

OneIndia News