Defiant Shabir Shah avoids ED in terror fund case

Kashmiri separatist leader Shabir Ahmed Shah failed to appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) today in connection with a decade-old case of terror financing through 'hawala channel'.
The ED would now be issuing fresh summons to Shah, the Chairman of Democratic Freedom Party, for appearing before before it after which the agency will complete the proceedings in his absence, official sources said here.
Shah, who had been invited to attend Monday's Pakistan Day reception by Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit, skipped it citing health issues.
The ED is probing a case of August 2005 of Delhi Police's Special Cell when they arrested Mohammed Aslam Wani, an alleged hawala dealer, who had claimed that he had passed on Rs 2.25 crore to Shah.

When contacted today, Shah told PTI over phone from Srinagar that it was a "politically motivated" case and he had made no representation to the ED for giving any fresh dates.
"There is no need to say anything other than that the case is politically motivated," he said.

Wani was arrested with Rs 63 lakh received through 'hawala' channels from the Middle East and a large amount of ammunition on August 26, 2005. He was arrested along with 5 kg RDX, 10 detonators and a foreign-made pistol with 15 live cartridges from an East of Kailash apartment in south Delhi.

During questioning, he had claimed before police that Rs 50 lakh was to be delivered to Shah and Rs 10 lakh to the Jaish-e-Mohammad 'area commander' in Srinagar Abu Baqar while the rest of the money was to be his commission.
Wani (35), who hailed from Srinagar, also claimed that he had delivered about Rs 2.25 crore to Shah and his kin in several instalments over the past year. He is at present out on a bail and has also been summoned by the ED.
Official sources claimed that Shah had asked Wani to channel 'hawala' money to him from Delhi for which he was paid three per cent as commission.

"This is based on statement of a person whom I even do not know. I have been spearheading a political movement in Kashmir and it seems I am being targeted for that," Shah, who has formed his own Jammu and Kashmir Hurriyat Conference, said.