Militancy Funding: NIA Attaches Property of Businessman Zahoor Watali in Kashmir
National Investigation Agency (NIA) sleuths during the installation of 'notice' mentioning the attachment of properties of businessman Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali in connection with a terror funding case, in Kupwara, Monday, June 12, 2023. Image Courtesy: PTI
Srinagar: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday attached properties of prominent Kashmiri businessman Zahoor Ahmad Watali in the Handwara area of Kupwara in North Kashmir in a case related to militancy funding.
The properties, including land belonging to Watali at Baghatpora and Kachwari villages, were attached by NIA officials years after the businessman was arrested in 2017. The officials said that the properties were attached following an order by the Special NIA Court in New Delhi in May.
“This is to inform all members of the public that the immovable properties i.e. lands measuring (i) 13.3 Marlas under survey No 457 min., (ii) 8.6 Marlas under Survey No. 458 min., and (iii) 1 Kanal and 10.3 Marlas under survey No 991/453 min., at village Baghatpora, Handwara, District Kupwara (J&K), in the name of accused Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali s/o Late Ghulam Nabi Shah Watali has been attached under the court order dated 31st May, 2023, in RC-10/2017/NIA/DLI. By the special NIA Court, Patiala House Courts, New Delhi,” the attachment notice from the agency read.
Watali was accused of being a Hawala conduit for illegally remitting funds to aid and support militancy, stone-pelting, and separatism in the region. He was first arrested by the Jammu and Kashmir Police from his Baghat residence in Srinagar in 1990 along with Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) leader Yaseen Malik, Sajad Lone, Bilal Lone, and served eight months in jail.
He was one of the many businessmen and separatist leaders who were arrested following the first major crackdown on separatism and terror funding modules in Jammu and Kashmir. Watali was arrested under various sections of the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), and IPC sections including section 120B, 121, 121A, and 124A.
In February this year, he was moved out of the jail and put under house arrest for treatment after he was diagnosed with terminal illness. The court, however, had ordered that during the period of his house arrest, only immediate family members and his lawyer could visit him.
Watali, 71, is believed to have played a key role in back channel talks between India and Pakistan. He rose from being a small businessman to a prominent real estate builder in Kashmir and in the Middle East. He was close to former minister and separatist leader Abdul Gani Lone, who is the father of J&K People’s Conference (JKPC) president Sajad Lone.
The action against Watali is the latest taken by the agency as part of a major crackdown in the region. The agency in May conducted searches and raids against the newly-formed offshoots and affiliates of several outfits including Laskhar-e-Toiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM), and AI-Badr.
In the recent months, the NIA has so far attached over 50 properties owned by those believed to be involved in aiding militancy and separatism in the region.
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