Top Kashmir leaders used foreign funds for personal gain alleges CBI

The Central Bureau of Investigation has started probing the sources of funds received by Kashmiri leaders.

CBI sources allege that three All Party Hurriyat Conference leaders -- Abdul Ghani Lone, Syed Ali Shah Gilani and Maulvi Abbas Ansari -- received Rs 300 million from Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence directorate and two foreign agencies between 1992 and 1996.

The ISI angle of the case, which was registered under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act in February, is currently being probed in the US and the Middle-East with Interpol's assistance. However, the names of the two other foreign agencies is a ''guarded secret''.

''We have suspended the Indian part of investigation until fresh clues arrive from these two countries. However, the probe will be continue in these countries,'' said a CBI source.

In its FIR, the CBI has alleged that Lone used to receive Rs 3 million per month from the ISI through the hawala channel. His daughter Shabnam Lone received Rs 302,000 on April 4, 1992, from Karachi-based businessman Mohammed Anis, an ISI contact. Anis was arrested by the Delhi police on February 1993 and Rs 58,000 was recovered from him.

The CBI has alleged that Lone bought a number of flats in Delhi and Srinagar with the help of foreign money. He did not furnish details about the funds, which is mandatory under FCRA.

The FIR said Lone visited Saudi Arabia, Britain, the USA and Iran between February 1993 and June 1993 for ''medical treatment''. The CBI claims he received financial assistance from the US-based Ghulam Nabi Fai and Ayub Thakur who have been supporting the Kashmiri cause. He also allegedly raised money for the Kashmiri Liberation Fund in Washington in March 1993. Two years later, Lone received Rs 120 million from Fai for the reconstruction of the Charar-e-Sharief shrine.

According to the FIR, Gilani accepted Rs 100 million in October 1995 as an office-bearer of the Jamait-e-Islami. He received an equal amount of money for the reconstruction of the Charar-e-Sharief which was destroyed by Pakistan-sponsored mercenaries.

Gilani allegedly paid a number of visits to Delhi to collect funds from unauthorised channels. During his visit to Mecca in April 1995, along with his wife and son-in-law, he is said to have accepted large sums of money there for the Kashmiri cause.

Soon after, CBI sources allege Gilani bought property worth Rs 8.7 million in the name of his son-in-law, Altaf Fantosh, and built two houses in Srinagar. He did not inform the government about the funds.

Maulvi Abbas Ansari has also allegedly built a house in Srinagar with the help of such funds. He also spent Rs 1.2 million on modernising a printing press which he owns. The press was later shifted from Lal Chowk to the outskirts of Srinagar.

The CBI claimed that Ansari visited Casablanca in Morocco on December 12, 1994 to attend the seventh Islamic summit conference. By then, he received one million Saudi rials from the Pakistanis and Kashmiris and two million rials from the Saudis.

The foreign funds scandal came to light only after the Jammu and Kashmir police interrogated two Pakistan-trained militants last December.