New Delhi

No startling revelations by arrested spies

By Devesh K. Pandey

NEW DELHI, FEB. 28. The recent arrests of two office-bearers of separatist groups and a self-proclaimed human rights activist from the Valley has revealed that drying up of funds for furthering the cause of "Kashmir liberation" had not only led to infighting among them but also took them closer to the Pakistan's intelligence in search of small monetary favours.

It is learnt that though the interrogation of the accused -- the self-styled human rights activist, Mohammad Ahsum Untoo, the People's League general secretary, Gulam Nabi Najar, and its splinter group, Jammu and Kashmir People's League's chief, Sheikh Abdul Aziz -- did not provide anything startling, but the intelligence agencies were able to corroborate the inputs on the activities of separatist extremist groups, which earlier formed a part of 30-group coalition.

It is alleged that during the initial stage of terrorism in the Valley, the separatist coalition -- which constituted just seven groups -- had been receiving funds running into crores through the hawala channel (by using the bank accounts of Jammu and Kashmir-based businessmen) to further their cause and also to divert considerable sums to terrorist outfits and for the "welfare" of those "martyred".

However, soon terrorist outfits realised that they too needed independent political fronts and so those from outfits like Al Jehad and Hizbul Mujahideen formed a coalition of such groups.

With the number of extremist and separatist groups increasing, funds were also on short supply. This, apart from certain other reasons, led to rifts between them. In 2003 the coalition suffered a major jolt due to internal rivalry and subsequently split. After those inciting terrorism realised that it was leading them nowhere they began showing reluctance in releasing the funds. Consequently, extremist groups were left with no choice but to "perform" different tasks to get the money flowing.

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