4 HM militants sentenced to imprisonment of 10-12 years in JKART case

New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Delhi on Monday sentenced four Hizbul Mujahedeen (HM) militants to imprisonment of over a decade in the Jammu Kashmir Affectees Relief Trust (JKART) case, and for conspiring to commit militancy related activities in India and wage war against the Government of India (GoI).
Two of the militants, Md Shafi Shah and Muzaffar Ahmad Dar have been sentenced to 12 years of imprisonment, while the other two, Talib Lali and Mushtaq Ahmad Lone have been sentenced to imprisonment for 10 years. The Special NIA Judge Praveen Singh passed a judgement against Mohd Shafi Shah alias Doctor, Talib Lali, Muzzafar Ahmad Dar and Mushtaq Ahmad Lone under various charges dealing with criminal conspiracy, waging war against the country, under provisions of UAPA.
“The convicts have been convicted for conspiring to commit militancy related activities in India and of conspiracy of waging war against the Government of India. In furtherance of this conspiracy, the convicts had engaged in the activities of militant funding”, the court said.
In the month of July, the same court had framed charges against all four men and had observed that the militant outfit had formed a frontal organisation– Jammu Kashmir Affectees Relief Trust (JKART), whose purpose was to fund militancy related activities. The trust was created to mainly provide funds for the militants and their families.
“Being based in Pakistan, documentary evidence such as the audit report of the trust is hard to come by. However, the protected witnesses have clearly disclosed and have prima facie established by their statements that JKART is the frontal organization of HM. Thus, a larger conspiracy to wage war against Government of India, to commit militancy related activities and funding of those militancy related activities have been prima facie established by evidence,” the court had said.
The NIA had registered a case on October 25, 2011, against Syed Salahuddin, Ameer (Hizb-ul-Mujahideen), Mehboob-ul-Haq, Masroor Dar, Masood Sarfaraz, Ameer (Hizb-e-Islami), and others. NIA had charge-sheeted them alleging Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM), one of the most active militant outfits in Jammu and Kashmir have been regularly receiving funds originating from neighbouring countries for carrying out militancy related activities in India, and the proscribed militant organisation is led by its commander Syed Salahuddin.
It was further alleged that in the garb of one Jammu Kashmir Affectees Relief Trust (JKART), the said militant outfit is actively involved in furthering the militancy related activities in India and the banking channel was extensively used for the transfer of funds to various bank accounts for the militancy related activities.