Jammu Tawi, July 13: Syed Ahmad Shakeel and Shahid Yusuf, sons of Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin whose services were recently terminated by the Jammu & Kashmir government, had allegedly facilitated terror funding on six and nine occasions respectively while in government service, according to sources in the Central investigation agencies.
Both Shakeel, who was working at Sher e Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) and Shahid, a former employee of J&K agriculture department, were purportedly receiving terror funds from Aijaz Ahmad Bhat alias Aijaz Maqbool Bhat, an active Hizbul cadre and a close aide of Salahuddin. Aijaz had crossed over to Pakistan in 1990 and is now responsible for collecting and transferring money to terror modules operating in J&K . The modus operandi of Shakeel and Shahid, dismissed from government service as part of an exercise to rid J&K administration of employees with terror links, was similar; both used multiple identities to receive terror funds from multiple locations in Saudi Arabia, said a source.
Even as PDP chief and former J&K chief minister Mehbooba Mufti had on Monday questioned the sacking of Salahuddin's sons asking how they could be persecuted for actions of their father without an enquiry, a source claimed the action under Article 311(2)(c) was based on evidence of their active involvement in terror financing “that was in files even though the facts were suppressed and evidence buried by favourable regimes in the past”.
An investigation officer claimed that Shahid, “a backdoor appointee of agriculture department in 2007”, had visited Dubai in 1999-2000 on a passport that memtioned his father's name as Yousuf Mir instead of Syed Mohd Yusuf, the original name of Syed Salahuddin. He was accompanied by Nasir Mir, an alleged Hizbul Mujahideen operative who lives in Dubai. During the visit Shahid had purportedly met his father Salahuddin. He also met Nazir Ahmed Qureshi, who is originally from Baramulla but now allegedly operates his hawala syndicate from Saudi Arabia and London and finances terror activities in India.
A source claimed investigation revealed that Shahid was using multiple IDs to receive terror funds from Aijaz Bhat. Aijaz would use various addresses from Saudi Arabia to transfer these funds to Shahid through Western Union Money Transfer. Shahid, while working as a J&K government employee, covertly received these funds to hatch terror conspiracy against the country, said an investigation officer.
Syed Ahmad Shakeel, a laboratory technician with SKIMS since 1990, also hatched a conspiracy to wage war against the country while working as a government employee and earning his livelihood through Indian exchequer, the source told TOI.
The source claimed Shakeel's terror activities were unraveled after the NIA took over a terror funding case originally probed by Delhi Police. The NIA probe revealed that Shakeel had in 2009-10 received money on 6 occasions from Aijaz Ahmed Bhat.
