NIA investigation should be able to nail the separatist group’s dubious money trail
It's good that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has launched a preliminary probe against senior Hurriyat Conference leaders for their alleged monetary links with terrorist groups based in Pakistan. There is far too much material now in the public domain — thanks largely to the media which has put out taped conversations hinting at Hurriyat accepting money from terror organisations such as the lashkar-e-Tayyeba and being guided by Pakistani forces to foment unrest in Kashmir valley — to be ignored. Given that the allegations are not new, they ought to have been investigated years ago. In fact, back in the summer of 2010, the valley had been rocked by a stone-pelting crisis of enormous magnitude, and it had then been strongly suggested by experts that Pakistani elements were funding the turmoil.
Unfortunately, no real probe was conducted then and the matter was sought to be brushed under the carpet on the pretext that the issue would be settled once a political solution was derived at. Since then, especially, the ‘political solution' card is played every time a fresh crisis breaks out in Kashmir — as in the present instance and when Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani was eliminated by Indian security forces. One fact is clear: The spate of unrests that we have seen is not spontaneous but engineered. A section of the youth in the valley comes out on the streets, throws stones at security personnel and seeks to disrupt their anti-terror encounters, waves Islamic State and Pakistani flags openly on the streets, and generally does everything that must invite retributive action from the authorities.
The youth cannot be doing this under the intoxication of ‘azaadi' all the while; such rhetoric has a short shelf life. There had to be something more by way of incentive, and if the NIA hunch is right, then money distributed to the riotous youth by the Hurriyat leaders, who in turn receive the funds from their patrons in Pakistan, has been the motivator. This is a problematic situation for certain mainstream politicians in Kashmir because they have always refrained from laying the blame on the Hurriyat's door and instead have berated the Union Government (and the State regime) for failing to politically engage with the separatists. Needless to add, these very politicians, when in power, too could not achieve any breakthrough — for the simple reason that the Hurriyat, which foments much of the trouble in the valley, does not want an end to the disturbances. It thrives on unrest, both to preserve the leadership of its top brass and for financial gains.
The preliminary investigation that has been launched must also be seen against the backdrop of media revelations that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (and this effectively means the Pakistan Army) has been directing and controlling the operations of militants in India. Sting operations on tape by people running the dangerous programme point to deep links between the Pakistani state and disparate terror groups, including the Indian Mujahideen, across India. In Kashmir itself, it is evident from the new material that the aim is to establish some sort of an Islamic entity there; a political solution is not part of the larger goal.