Politics

Geelani’s son-in-law being harassed by NIA, says family

Srinagar, June 14: About a month ago, on May 16, a Delhi-based news channel aired a purported video showing Hurriyat leader Nayeem Khan admitting that Pakistan funds the Hurriyat, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) of India started investigating upon and questioning the Hurriyat Conference leadership.

However, after raids in Srinagar, Jammu and Delhi, the NIA sleuths packed bags and left for Delhi last week.

But Altaf Ahmad Shah, son-in-law of Hurriyat patriarch Syed Ali Geelani, was summoned to Delhi where his questioning continues ‘despite his deteriorating health’.

Khan along with Javaid Ahmad Baba alias Gazi and Farooq Ahmad Dar aka Bitta Karate were seen part of the video which went viral on social networking spaces.

The trio were questioned by the NIA in Delhi before the NIA reached Srinagar and raided houses of many resistance leaders includung Shah.

Altaf Ahmad Shah aka Altaf Funtosh is member of Geelani led Tehreek-e-Hurriyat.

On June 3, Shah’s residence along with other leaders’  houses was raided by the NIA. They were also called for the questioning in Srinagar for three days. The family’s bank and property details were taken by the NIA. Shah’s family member told FreePressKashmir that NIA called Shah to Delhi on June 9 and since then he has been spending his day in the questioning sessions with his Blood Sugar level beyond normal levels.

“Since June 9, they (NIA) have been questioning him on the daily basis. It’s harassing. They ask him the same set of questions in the NIA office for the whole day. They are only asking him about the money and where it comes from when they could not find any evidence at our place. They ask him about his children and how he manages to educate them. They have complete information about our bank accounts and details of our property. Everything,” said Shah’s close family member.

The relative also said, “They (NIA) are so frustrated that they are torturing him by saying that ‘You have to reveal something. Otherwise, we are going to frame you in any case and we have the powers to do so’.”

Talking about the impact of the daily questioning, Shah’s family member also said that his Sugar level was 550 on Tuesday.

“His blood sugar level has gone high up to 550. He takes insulin thrice a day. Blood pressure level is very high. He was fasting earlier. Now he is not. He even showed them the test results and told them that he needs to be hospitalised but they just did not agree to it. They told him they can give him a day to go to a doctor but then he would still have to return to the NIA office,” said the family member adding that Shah’s day starts with his questioning at around 10 am to 7-7.30 in the evening.

Shah has chosen his accommodation by himself. According to his family, he was given an option by the NIA to stay at an accommodation that would have been provided by it. However, he had preferred to stay in Delhi on his own.

“He had nothing to hide. He is telling them to show him the evidence if any. But they have nothing,” said the member adding that Shah is being harassed ‘just to pressurize the Geelani group’.

In 2002, the family alleges that Shah was framed when he had to spend 10 months in jail in Jammu. However, no criminal charges/case was filed against him then.

“It’s all being done deliberately. If they arrest him, he can be gone for years till it would be proved that he was innocent. That is how they frame people. That is what they have told him. They just want to crush this political resistance in Kashmir,” added the close associate of Shah.

“His health condition is very bad. We fear that we might anytime get a call that he needs to be hospitalized. If anything happens to him, it would be the government of India’s responsibility,” the member said, adding that NIA had offered him the security if he would have revealed some names.

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