NIA interrogates Syed Ali Shah Geelani's sons over terror funding case

The NIA on Tuesday questioned the sons of pro-Pakistan separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani in connection with a terror funding probe allegedly involving Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed, official sources said.

While Geelani's elder son Nayeem is a surgeon by profession, the younger one, Naseem, is an employee of the Jammu and Kashmir government.

Nayeem is being tipped as the natural successor to lead the Tehrek-e-Hurriyat, a separatist conglomerate comprising pro-Pakistan hardline groups, after his father.

The brothers are being questioned here in connection with a terror funding case which has named Saeed, leader of the Pakistan-based Jamaat-ud-Dawa and banned terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba, as an accused, sources said.

NIA registered the case on May 30, accusing separatist and secessionist leaders of being in cahoots with terrorist groups.

The case was registered over raising, receiving and collecting funds through various illegal means, including through hawala channels, for funding separatist and terrorist activities in the state. The case also included causing disruption in the Valley by pelting security forces with stones, burning schools, damaging public property and waging war against India.

The probe agency had conducted searches in several places in the state besides Haryana and the national capital. Electronic devices and valuables worth crores of rupees were impounded.

It was the first time since the rise of militancy in the early 1990s that a central probe agency conducted raids in connection with the funding of terrorist and separatist groups.