New Delhi, Feb 10: Three days after the arrest of two All-Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) activists in the Capital, the conglomerate was forced to shut down its office in the capital on Sunday. The separatist group, which was running the Kashmir Awareness Bureau (KAB) from a rented accommodation at Malviya Nagar (A-181, Shivalik) in South Delhi since 1995, was asked to vacate its premises by the house owner, police sources said.
The KAB was started in 1995 with the aim to "disseminate information and awareness among the people regarding the background of the Kashmir problem". However, neighbours told The Pioneer that they were not aware that the APHC was running an office there. "We only got to know about the office when the police raided it on Thursday," a resident said.
Two vehicles - an Ambassador and a Lancer - registered in the name of the organisation have been recovered by the Special Cell of the Delhi police. Although an eviction notice was issued by the owner of the flat, the police started seizing items from the flat and has moved court for permission to seal the residence.
Police sources added that they have already seized two computers, hard disks, floppies, written documents and video tapes from the office. Police sources said the accused, KAB's chief editor Shabir Ahmed Dar, owns a flat at Paryavaran Vihar in Delhi. It is yet to be ascertained how he managed to buy the flat.
The police is investigating the case under the provisions of POTA that says that if an accused fails to produce documents indicating the source of his property, he will have to pay a huge penalty.
According to sources, an employee of KAB was paid a salary of Rs 15,000 while no official records substantiates inflow and outflow of funds. Investigations in this case will now proceed on many fronts, police sources added.
Meanwhile, Gulfam Ahmed, KAB's office supervisor, on Sunday confirmed that the APHC's central leadership had decided to shut the office down after they were served an "eviction notice by landlady Renu Saxena" on Sunday.
Senior Hurriyat leader Khalil Ahmed had asked the office bearers to vacate the building and shift their properties to other places until a decision is taken by the Hurriyat executive on whether to set up another office in the Capital or not, he added.
Police sources also added: "The house owner took possession of the premises after she came to know about the recent arrest of Hurriyat spokesman Shabir Ahmad Dar and woman activist Anjum Zamrooda Habib on charges of channelling funds to terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir."
Reacting to the incident, Hurriyat Conference on Sunday accused the centre of "doling out carrot and stick treatment" to the Kashmiri leadership and said only a "meaningful dialogue" involving Pakistan could permanently resolve the issue. The amalgam also accused the BJP-led NDA government of "hatching a conspiracy to close down the Hurriyat's Delhi Office." They also alleged that "activists of the Bajrang Dal demonstrated outside the office and had threatened the staff telling them to vacate or face the consequences."
Shabir Ahmad Dar and Anjum Zamrooda Habib were arrested on Thursday outside the Pakistan High Commission with a huge amount of money.
Later, they confessed that the cash was given to them by Pakistan's Charge d' Affaires in India, Jalil Abbas Jilani.
The Delhi police on Saturday was contemplating to close the party's office at Malviya Nagar. After a raid on Thursday, the police had recovered "incriminating" documents and video tapes on basis of which such a move was suggested.
Hurriyat chairman Abdul Gani Bhat had made it clear on Friday that the conglomerate was contemplating to close down the office in the Capital on grounds of alleged "harassment" by the Delhi police. Since the arrest of Dar and Habib, chief of Muslim Khawateen Markaz, a constituent of Hurriyat on Thursday, a serious diplomatic row was sparked off between India and Pakistan. Matters came to a head after the Delhi police named Pakistan's charge d'Affaires Jalil Abbas Jilani in it's FIR.
The Government on Saturday expelled Jilani and four other staff members of Pakistan High Commission for activities not conforming with their status.
In an expected move, Islamabad also expelled India's Charge d' Affaires Sudhir Vyas and four others in the Indian High Commission in Pakistan.
Bureau Report
