Two arrested on charges of terror funding

Srinagar: The J&K police has arrested two youths in southern Pulwama district on charges of being involved in terror funding and trying to purchase weapons and ammunition on behalf of Ansar Ghuzwat-Ul-Hind (AGH), an affiliate of Al-Qaeda.

It identified the duo as Rafiq Ahmed Dar and Aabid Majeed Sheikh, both residents of Awantipora area of Pulwama. The police said that investigations into the alleged “terror funding” and “extremist activities” were underway. It, however, refused to divulge details of the case.

The police sources said that Dar was detained by the police merely on suspicion during routine checking in Awantipora area. The police allegedly found a grenade in his possession and during questioning Dar reportedly told it that he was an over-ground worker (OWG) of AGH and that the grenade was given to him by a militant of the outfit.

He also reportedly said that he along with Sheikh, the other alleged OGW of the outfit, were given a huge amount by Zakir Rashid Bhat alias Zakir Musa, the Chief of AGH to get weapons for the outfit. The sources said that the police after arresting Sheikh recovered a cash of Rs. 537,000 from him. He also told his interrogators that the money was looted by the outfit cadres from Marhama (Pulwama) branch of Jammu and Kashmir Bank in December 2017.

The police also said that it detained six Kashmiri youth who were planning to join militants’ ranks. “They were handed over to their pare nts after proper counselling,” the police said.

Meanwhile, life limped back to normalcy across Kashmir Valley barring parts of Pulwama district and northern town of Kangan after remaining paralysed for days in the aftermath of the killing of 13 militants and 5 civilians in security forces’ actions in Shopian and Anantnag district and Kagan past week.

In Pulwama, shops and other businesses remained shut on Saturday over the killing of Hizb-ul-Mujahedin militant Mussavir Wani. Thousands of people attended Wani’s funeral on Saturday following which clashes erupted in the area between protesters and security forces, reports from Pulwama said . A B’Tech pass out from a Bengaluru university, Wani was killed by the security forces during a brief encounter in Kangan (Tral) area of the district on Friday. A few protesters were injured and one of them has been brought to Srinagar for specialized treatment. Kangan town in northern Ganderbal district remained shut on the fifth consecutive day Saturday to mourn and protest the killing of a local youth Gowhat Ahmed rather in police firing earlier during the week.

The authorities have ordered a magisterial probe into the killing of 22-year-old youth.