NIA turns heat on Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, summons him to Delhi for questioning

This is the first time that the Mirwaiz who is one of the senior most separatist leaders in Kashmir has been summoned to NIA headquarters for questioning.

Two weeks after National Investigative Agency (NIA) carried searches in the house of Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, it has summoned the separatist leader to New Delhi for questioning.

Chairman of moderate faction of Hurriyat conference Mirwaiz Umer Farooq was among seven separatist leaders whose houses were raided by the NIA in February . (PTI FLE PHOTO)

This is the first time that the Mirwaiz who is one of the senior most separatist leaders in Kashmir has been summoned to NIA headquarters for questioning. Earlier, other separatist leaders were summoned by the NIA to its headquarters and later some of them were arrested.

The Mirwaiz’s secretary Syed Rehman Shamas confirmed that summon had been served. “Yes, NIA has summoned Mirwaiz Umar Farooq to Delhi.’’

Besides, Mirwaiz, Syed Naseem Geelani son of separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani has also been summoned by the NIA.

On February 26, the NIA had carried out searches on houses of separatist leaders. An NIA spokesman had said that they had carried out searches at seven locations which included premises belonging to top separatist leaders namely Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, JKLF chairman Yasin Malik, President of JKDFP Shabir Shah and Naseem Geelani, son of Syed Ali Shah Geelani.

The spokesman had said that during the searches, NIA teams seized incriminating documents including property papers, financial transactions receipts and bank account details. Electronic devices including laptops, tablets, mobile phones, pen drives, communication system and DVRs were also seized during the searches.

“Significantly, letter heads of different terrorist organisations as well as documents relating to recommendations for visa for admission in Pakistan Educational Institutions were found. A high tech internet communication set up was also recovered from the residence of Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.”

On Thursday, Public Safety Act was slapped on Yasin Malik and he was shifted to Kotbalwal jail in Jammu.

Following the Pulwama suicide bombing last month that killed 40 CRPF troopers, the government withdrew security cover of senior separatist leaders in the Valley including the Mirwaiz. The Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) had termed raids on the houses of separatists as a political vendetta against the separatist leadership and a shutdown was observed against these raids on Friday.