Mirwaiz set to appear before NIA today

New Delhi, Apr 08: Separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq will appear before the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday in connection with a case related to terror funding after he was assured by the probe agency that his security would be ensured, officials said in Delhi.

He was served a third summon recently in which he was given an assurance that the NIA would ensure complete security to him.

Hurriyat Conference leaders Abdul Gani Bhat, Bilal Lone and Maulana Abbas Ansari have also decided to rally behind the Mirwaiz and would be accompanying him to the NIA headquarters to express their solidarity, members of the separatist conglomerate said.

The NIA had on February 26 carried out searches at premises of several leaders, including the Mirwaiz.

The NIA had earlier questioned two maternal uncles of the Mirwaiz - Maulvi Manzoor and Maulvi Shafat - and his close aides last year. Both Manzoor and Shafat are retired senior government officers.

He had been asked to appear before the NIA on March 11 and March 18 but the Mirwaiz had expressed his inability to join the investigation in the national capital fearing for his security in view of "conditions of hostility".

The Mirwaiz had informed the NIA that he was not acquainted with the subject matter of the FIR referred to in the NIA's notice and also added that the notice to the separatist leader appears to have been issued on the basis of "fallacious assumptions and misinformation solely aimed at maligning" him.

The NIA probe seeks to identify the chain of players behind the financing of terrorist activities, pelting of stones on security forces, burning down of schools and damaging of government establishments.

The case names Hafiz Saeed, Pakistan-based chief of Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD), the front for banned Lashker-e-Taiba, as an accused, besides organisations such as the Hurriyat Conference factions led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani and the Mirwaiz, Hizbul Mujahideen and Dukhtaran-e-Millat.