The National Investigation Agency (NIA) Tuesday carried out searches at seven premises belonging to Kashmiri separatists in Srinagar. The separatists whose residence was searched include Yasin Malik, Shabbir Shah, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Mohammad Ashraf Khan, Masarat Alam, Zaffar Akbar Bhat, and Naseem Geelani, son of Sayeed Ali Shah Geelani. The NIA had questioned two maternal uncles of the Mirwaiz — Maulvi Manzoor and Maulvi Shafat — and his close aides last year in connection with the funding of terror and separatist groups in the Valley. Both of them are retired senior government officers, PTI reported. The NIA probe seeks to identify the chain of players behind the financing of terrorist activities, including those who pelted stones on security forces, burnt down schools and damaged government establishments. The case names Hafeez Saeed, Pakistan-based chief of Jamaat-ud Dawah, the front for banned Lashkar-e-Taiba, as an accused, besides organisations such as the Hurriyat Conference (factions led by Geelani and Mirwaiz Umer Farooq), Hizbul Mujahideen and Dukhtaran-e-Millat.
