Syed Ali Shah Gilani's nexus between Hurriyat and Lashkar's Abu Furqaan

S. Asif/Mohammad Shafi

Srinagar, Nov 27: The Inspector General of Police, Kashmir, SM Sahai, today said that 60 odd Government employees were arrested among the total 135 identified who took part in the recent protests.

“Some seven employees were detained under PSA,” Sahai said. He said that police had sent recommendations about them to their respective departments. “We hope that disciplinary action will be taken against them," Sahai said while addressing a press conference at Police Control Room here.

He said timber smugglers and criminals had also taken advantage of the recent unrest as police was focused on maintaining the law and order. He said the six months of unrest were not spontaneous but were masterminded by Lashker-e-Toiba militant outfit.

“The investigations reveal that agitation was increasingly a thoughtful plan carried out by Lashkar,” Sahai said. “We have exposed a module in Batamaloo area involved in the incidents of lobbying grenades. Its members were also notorious stone throwers.”

The IG said 18 grenades were recovered from the possession of four youth. During the course of investigation, he said the detained youth revealed that the module was formed by one Sajad Ahmad alias Shamas, a Lashker militant located in Thanamandi area of Rajouri district.

Similarly, he said there is nexus between Hurriyat and Lashkar. “Recently we arrested Tehsil saddar of  Tehreek-e-Hurriyat Rohama, Ghulam Muhammad Tantray of  Syed Ali Shah Gilanai  who is a resident of Behrampora Rafiabad,” IG said. “His telephonic conversation with Lashkar commander Abu Furqaan reveals that he was linked to the outfit. Both of them stayed together for a day and mooted plans to increase and organize the agitation. So it shows how there are links between militants and separatists.” Furqaan was also involved in killing of top Sr. leader  Sheikh Aziz.

Sahai said as the stone pelting has receded, the militant activity has increased. “They want to keep the cycle going,” he said.

Sahai said Pakistani establishment has still kept intact militant training infrastructure on their soil. Sahai said that revelations made by detained Lashkar militant Saleem Rehmani indicate the role of Pakistani agencies in aiding militancy in the Valley.

Rehmani alias Abu Saad, police said, was arrested recently by police from Panzan area in Budgam district.

Pay Rs 1.73 crore income tax, Ali Shah Geelani told

Srinagar, Nov 3: Kashmir’s hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani has been asked to file Rs 1.73 crore in tax dues over a period when he had not filed his returns after rejecting his appeal. Geelani’s spokesman said that they do not know the details of the notice and came to know about it through media, reports PNS (3/11)

PTI reported that IT sleuths, which had swooped on residences of Geelani and his family members in 2002 and seized valuable items, including a diamond-studded watch gifted by Pakistan Government, had raised a tax demand of over Rs 1.5 crore.

Geelani challenged the demand and approached the Commissioner of Income Tax (appeals) for review of the case and also sought a waiver, saying he did not earn anything other than the pension from Government of Jammu and Kashmir and from agriculture land.

The case dragged on for nearly three years and recently the appeal was dismissed after which he was asked to deposit Rs 1.73 crore as tax liabilities by end of 2010.

A spokesman of Geelani told The Pioneer that even our lawyer has not received any notice after filing appeal in the relevant court. “We will comment on the issue on Thursday”, he said. Geelani, who has been legislator for 15 years, has stopped receiving pension after mounting public pressure and his opponents.

Geelani, who heads the breakaway faction of the Hurriyat Conference, still has the option to go to the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT). The Tax Department had raised the demand of Rs 1.73 crore against the firebrand

Jamaat-e-Islami leader after giving him ample opportunities to furnish answers to a questionnaire about his sources of income.

The questionnaire followed an assessment of Geelani’s wealth by the department following a series of raids conducted at his house and other places in June 2002 during Farooq Abdullah’s regime. His journalist son Iftikhar Gilani was also arrested from Delhi but later exonerated from all charges. Other persons arrested during the raids were also subsequently released.

The department had raided Geelani’s house and other places of his kin on June 9, 2002 and seized Rs 10.2 lakh and US $10,000 in cash, vouchers showing purchase of substantial amount of jewellery, a diamond-encrusted watch inscribed with “From Pakistan Government” besides documents pertaining to purchase of property and vehicles.

Geelani had shown an annual income of Rs 17,100 - Rs 7,100 as pension from the State Assembly as a former MLA and Rs 10,000 as agriculture income.

However, according to the assessment made by the Income Tax Department, the monthly expenditure of Geelani allegedly ranged from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.5 lakh as he had 15 servants at his house and his wife had confirmed that she used to get Rs 25,000 per month for kitchen expenses.