NIA Attaches 2 Properties of Hizbul Chief Salahuddin’s Sons

Srinagar: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) seized two properties owned by the sons of Hizbul Mujahideen chief Mohammad Yousuf Shah, aka Syed Salahuddin, in Srinagar and Budgam under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, on Monday in a terror funding case.

According to an NIA notice, a three-storey house owned by Salahuddin’s son Syed Ahmad Shakeel in Nursing Garh locality, in Srinagar’s Mohalla Ram Bagh, was attached. Shakeel was a medical assistant at Srinagar’s Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS).

“The immovable property owned by Syed Shakeel, son of Syed Yousuf Shah, alias Syed Salahuddin, under UA(P) Act, 1967, stands attached under sub-Section 33 (1) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, by order of the Special NIA Court, New Delhi,” the notice read.

The second property, owned by Salahuddin’s other son Shahid Yusuf in Soibugh village, Budgam district, was also attached under the same sub-Section. Both brothers have been lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail since their arrest in October 2017 and August 2018, respectively. According to the agency, they were charge-sheeted on April 20, 2018, and November 20, 2018. 

According to the NIA chargesheet, the brothers received funds from their father’s associates abroad and overground Hizbul members. Shakeel and Yusuf were sacked from their respective government jobs in July 2021 under the Constitution’s Article 311.

“The NIA had launched investigations in November 2011 into the criminal conspiracy to raise/collect/provide funds to commit terrorist acts and distribute funds among the terror groups and their sympathisers in Jammu and Kashmir for the purpose of committing terrorist acts,” the NIA statement further read. The Special Cell of Delhi Police had initially registered a case in January 2011 which was subsequently taken over by the NIA, it added.

Salahuddin (77), designated as a terrorist by India in October 2020, has been living in Pakistan after fleeing the region in 1993. He has led the United Jihad Council, a group of about 13 militant outfits—many of which are defunct now—in Kashmir for the last several years.

Before turning to militancy, Salahuddin fought the 1987 elections from the important Amira Kadal constituency and was expected to win. But he was arrested with some believing it to be one of the causes of militancy.

The NIA launched a massive crackdown against militant groups and their supporters in the region, especially since 2017. In the last three years, more than 60 properties, including 30 houses in Kashmir, in militancy cases or those involved in harbouring militants have been attached.

The NIA also seized six shops in south Kashmir’s Awantipora district regarding the 2018 attack on a CRPF group centre in neighbouring Lethpora area.