The Centre is all set to clamp down on Hurriyat and other separatist leaders by putting restrictions on their foreign travel, scaling down the security which they enjoy at the exchequer's cost and closely monitoring finance from abroad.
Miffed over the cold shoulder given by the separatists to the MPs, who were part of the all-party delegation that visited Jammu & Kashmir with the hope of holding talks to end the current cycle of protests
and violence in the State, the Centre is considering withdrawing their passports and denying travel documents in some cases.
Besides these, the Centre will also scrutinise their bank accounts and complete pending investigations in cases against them to send a strong message that those provoking youths in Kashmir Valley to create disturbance do not go unpunished, sources said.
The decision follows a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday morning about the all-party delegation’s two-day long meetings in the Valley. Singh is reported to have apprised the PM of the outcome of the visit.
The Prime Minister is said to have conveyed that time had come to act tough with the separatists, sources said.
The Centre feels that the State Government is treating separatists with kid gloves and has to be tough with them, officials said, claiming that
students, parents and the middle class were getting restless and wanted the cycle of violence to end.
The final decision on these issues, however, will be taken after the all-party delegation, which visited the troubled State, meets here on Wednesday and consultations are held at the highest level of the Government, sources said.
“Briefed the Prime Minister on all-party delegation’s visit to J&K and also apprised him of the situation in the State,” Singh tweeted after the meeting at the Prime Minister’s residence. While the Prime Minister returned to the Capital on Monday night after his visit to Vietnam and China, the Home Minister too had come back from Jammu & Kashmir on Monday evening.
In the evening, Rajnath Singh also met senior Cabinet colleagues and BJP’s senior leaders including party president Amit Shah to discuss the unrest in the troubled State.
Sources said the members of the all-party delegation will chalk out future plans for Jammu and Kashmir in their meeting on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has already started a probe into the role of separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s son Nayeem Geelani in routing money from abroad in dubious ways. His two accounts in J&K Bank were under the NIA’s radar for some time, said sources.