National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday morning conducted raids at the offices of Human Welfare Foundation (HWF), a charitable trust run by Jamaat-e-Islami Hind. Another raid was conducted at the residence of Zafarul Islam Khan who heads Charity Alliance. He is also former Chairman of Delhi Minorities Commission and editor of Milli Gazette newspaper.
Both the locations are based in the Abul Fazal Enclave locality of Delhi’s Okhla area. The raids began at 6 am and continued till mid-day.
The NIA also conducted searches at seven locations in Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir. The organisations which were raided include Falah-e-Aam Trust, J&K Yateem Foundation, Salvation Movement and J&K Voice of Victims (JKVoV) and Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP).
On Wednesday, the NIA raided 11 locations in Srinagar and Bandipora in J&K and one location in Bengaluru, Karnataka.
In Delhi, anxious residents gathered at Zafarul Islam Khan’s house. They were angry at the way the government was harassing a respected figure of the community. People saw it as unnecessary harassment of Khan.
“Thrown to stone age. No laptop, no mobile, no desktop. NIA people said order for raid came from the very top and they were woken up at 4 am for this great task of raiding a journalist. They had no patience. They jumped the wall to enter my house like they did with Chidambram,” Mr Khan tweeted.
According to IANS, the action comes in the wake of a fresh case registered by the NIA on October 8 under several sections of the Indian Penal Code and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act on the receipt of information that certain NGOs and trusts are collecting funds domestically and abroad through so-called donations and business contributions, etc. and are then utilising these funds for secessionist and terrorist activities in J&K.
The All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat condemned both the raids. Its president Navaid Hamid said through a tweet that the Mushawarat condemns NIA raids on the offices of Jamaat-e-Islami’s Human Welfare Foundation & Charity Alliance in Delhi connecting them with funding to some Kashmiri organisations. Timings of raids convinced that it’s a divisionary tactic to divert from issues in #Bihar Polls and make it Hindu-Muslim issue. Mushawarat is a federation of various Muslim organisations in India.
On Wednesday, the NIA, Crime Investigation Department (CB-CID) and Jammu and Kashmir Police, accompanied by Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) officers conducted a raid in the office of Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) in Hyderpora, Srinagar.
According to NIA, the raid was in connection with a terror funding inquiry.
APDP’s office bearers and prominent activists Parveena Ahangar and Saima were taken from home to the APDP office by the team and security personnel. Parveena Ahangar, Sabia and Saima were present in the office during the raid.
The raid team seized several documents and some electronic devices. Praveena Ahanagar’s mobile phones were also seized.
Parveena started the APDP in 1994 to provide support and mobilize family members of missing persons due to enforced disappearances and to put pressure on India’s government to investigate the estimated 8-10,000 cases of involuntary disappearances in Kashmir.
“APDP neither receives foriegn funding, nor engages in any illegal activities. The raid conducted by the NIA has no basis, and only exposes the State’s desperation to deter APDP from pursuing justice for hundreds of victims of human rights violations committed by State actors in Kashmir,” Parveena responded to the raid.
In a press statement released by Parveena hours after the raid, she raised serious concern over misuse of sensitive information, including names and addresses of victims present in documents seized from APDP and apprehension of reprisal against victims of human rights violations.
The raided places include the residence and offices of prominent rights activist and Co-ordinator of Jammu &Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society, Khurram Parvez, Parvez Ahmad Matta, Swati Sheshadri and Agence France-Presse’s Kashmir correspondent Parvaiz Bukhari, NGO Athrout, and the Greater Kailash Trust.
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Rushda Fathima Khan is the Staff Reporter for The Cognate.
