Shabir Shah files application alleging inhuman behaviour, threat to life

Separatist leader and Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) chairman Shabir Shah on 3 August filed an application in a Delhi court, alleging inhuman behaviour and threat to life.

Shah, who was produced before the Patiala House Court, also said he was forced to sign the statements and few blank documents.

He also alleged all of the things hatched against him due to political vendetta, to which the Enforcement Directorate (ED) counsel responded by saying, "People like Shah are ruining the country".

The ED lawyer further said, "Can Shah say 'Bharat Mata ki Jai'?" Following this, the court intervened and asked both not to convert the court into a TV studio.

The ED has also submitted an application before the court for further remand of Shah in connection with the terror funding case.

In its remand application, the ED submitted before the court that Shah is in continuous contact with anti-national elements/terrorists residing in Pakistan in garb of the Kashmir issue.

Contacts from his mobile phone revealed that he is in regular touch with Pakistan, Dubai and England and that the same needs to be examined.

On July 26, Shah was produced in the court, following which he was sent to a seven-day ED custody.

On July 25, Shah was arrested from his residence, where he was under house detention for a very long time, in Jammu and Kashmir's Srinagar.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has been tough on Separatists regarding the alleged funding by Pakistan for illegal activities in Kashmir.

On July 24, the NIA arrested seven separatists over money laundering charges, for funding terror in the Kashmir Valley.

All seven separatist leaders - Altaf Shah, Ayaz Akbar, Peer Saifullah, Mehraj Kalwal, Shahid-ul-Islam, Naeem Khan and Bitta Karate - were later sent to 10-day NIA custody.

The accused have been charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

The NIA visited Srinagar in May to probe the alleged funding by Pakistan for illegal activities in Kashmir, and questioned several separatist leaders on the issue of raising, collecting and transferring funds via the Hawala route and other channels to fund terror activities in Kashmir.

The NIA sleuths specifically questioned separatist leaders Farooq Ahmed Dar alias Bitta Karate and Gazi Javed Baba at that time.

The NIA is said to be probing all aspects of funding to separatist leaders and how they reportedly used these funds to fuel unrest in the Kashmir Valley.

-ANI