A day after speaking out about the modifications made to Jammu and Kashmir's land ownership laws, former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has once again hit out at the Centre. Mufti launched a scathing attack at the Indian government over raids conducted by the National Investigation Agency in several places in the northern Union Territory on Wednesday.
Alleging that this was yet another effort to utilise the "BJP's pet agency" to browbeat people who refuse to "fall in line", Mufti expressed consternation over the situation. "NIA raids on human rights activist Khurram Parvez and Greater Kashmir office in Srinagar is yet another example of GOI's vicious crackdown on freedom of expression and dissent," she wrote.
While not much detail is available about the NIA raids and their outcome, we do know that they were conducted at multiple locations in Srinagar, Bandipora and Bengaluru including the residence of Khurram Parvez, offices of NGO Athrout and Greater Kashmir Trust on Wednesday.
As per a PTI report, the NIA team was assisted by the local police and paramilitary forces and searched the office of the trust which is located in the premises of a prominent English daily in Srinagar. Simultaneous raids were also carried out at the offices of a local NGO called 'Athroat', a houseboat named 'H.B. Hilton' in the Dal Lake, residence of a human rights activist Khuram Parvaiz and two other places in the old city areas.
At least three other non-governmental organisations founded in 2000 were raided by the NIA for alleged terror funding in Jammu and Kashmir. According to the NIA, these NGOs were receiving money from undisclosed donors which was being used for funding terror activities.
For the uninitiated, Khurram Parvez is a prominent Kashmiri human rights activist who is currently the Chairperson of the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances and the Program Coordinator for the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society.
