Jammu Bar Association expels Geelani’s lawyer

Srinagar: The Bar Association of Jammu on Tuesday expel-led lawyer Devinder Singh Behal, who is associated with separatist Hurriyat Conference faction led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani, after he was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in an alleged money laundering case two days ago.

The NIA had on Sunday conducted raids on the office and residence of Mr Behal in the winter capital. The NIA is probing if Behal, who is the chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Social Peace For-um that is part of the Geelani-led Hurriyat Con-ference, has any role in diversion of funds to separatists in the Valley. The NIA officials had said that it had, during the raids on Mr Behal’s properties, recovered documents, mo-bile phones and a tablet which were being sent for forensic examination to collecting more evidence.

Jammu bar association president B.S. Salathia told reporters that as soon as it learnt about Mr Behal’s activities, “we verified our records and immediately decided to expel him from the primary membership of the association without serving any notice”. He added, “Ours is a nationalist association and we will not tolerate the presence of any ‘anti-national’ element, whether associated with Hurriyat or any other group.” Mr Behal was a member of the association since 2013.

Replying questions, Mr Salathia claimed that Mr Behal’s expulsion was a “unanimous decision” aimed at “sending a clear message that we will not tolerate any anti-national activity”.

The NIA has been probing alleged funding of terror and subversive activities in the Valley after a national TV channel had in May this year in a sting operation showed three separatist leaders admitting on camera that they had received funding from Pakistan and Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, a co-founder of LeT.