NC demands probe into allegations against former army chief

Jammu and Kashmir's ruling National Conference Friday demanded a CBI probe into the functioning of a top army intelligence unit that allegedly used security funds to topple Omar Abdullah-led coalition government in the state.

"The matter of toppling of the state government by using security funds by former army chief V.K. Singh as revealed in a report by the Indian Express newspaper is a very grave and serious matter that should not be brushed aside," party's provincial president Nasir Aslam Wani said at a press conference here.

"This matter needs a thorough probe. We demand a judicial probe under a sitting judge of the Supreme Court or at the least by the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigations) so that the findings of the probe are made public," he said.

Noting the state has "suffered at the machinations of people who have tried time and again to demean the elected government", Wani said "this report substantiates that there are people who want to dent the credibility of democratic institutions".

Wani said the summer unrest of 2010 had been triggered by a fake gunfight in Machil border area and subsequently the Valley had seen a series of massive protests.

He said with hindsight it appears the entire summer unrest of 2010 in which 110 people were killed in violent clashes between protesters and security forces appears to have been orchestrated by forces inimical to peace in Kashmir who wanted to bring down the democratically- elected government in the state.

A news report claimed that then army chief, Gen. V.K. Singh, had set up a Technical Services division (TSD) in military intelligence that paid crores of rupees out of secret funds to a cabinet minister of the state and an NGO to bring down the Omar Abdullah government and also to block the chain of succession so that the present army chief Bikram Singh was prevented from heading the Indian army.

Reacting to the media report, state Agriculture Minister Ghulam Hassan Mir, whose name is mentioned by the newspaper, denied any knowledge of funds being used to destabilize the state government in 2010.

Mir told some reporters that he had in fact worked to defuse the tensions in 2010.