Kashmiri separatist leader has links with LeT: J&K police

In a confidential report, the Jammu and Kashmir police has accused moderate Hurriyat Conference leader Shabir Ahmed Shah of having links with Pakistan-based terror group Lashker-e-Tayiba.

In the report to the state Home Department, the police have suggested some pro-active measures to curb the anti-national activities of separatist leaders and also slapped the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act against pro-Pakistan leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani.

In its report, the police alleged that Shah was in constant touch with Furqan of Lashker-e-Tayiba and used to take orders directly from him, official sources said.

 The report, which has been sent to the Home Department to confirm the Public Safety Act on Shah, has accused him of hatching a conspiracy with LeT cadres in destablising the peace in the state. The name of Furqan first surfaced during the probe of Hurriyat leader Sheikh Aziz's killing. He was shot dead in northern Kashmir by militants.

During investigations, it came to light that Furqan was in constant touch with Shah on a mobile not registered in the name of the separatist leader, the police claimed in its report.

Shah was also accused of receiving funds from abroad through hawala channel, which were, in turn, handed over to Lashker cadres, the sources claimed.

The police also claimed to have gathered electronic evidence, including some e-mails, pointing towards Shah's involvement in Lashker-e-Tayiba's nefarious designs to destabilise the functioning of the state government.

Shah, who has been in the custody of the state police since the last six weeks, also acted as a go-between to bridge the differences between Geelani and moderate Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, the sources claimed.

This, according to the report, was being done at the behest of the Lashker-e-Tayiba, which wanted a united platform for the separatist leaders. Besides Shah and Geelani, a host of other separatist leaders including Nayeem Khan, Aysa Indrabi, Mohammed Saleem Nanaji and Ghulam Nabi Sumzi, majority of whom are Geelani's supporters, have been detained.