After court directions, NIA seals office of Hurriyat in Srinagar under UAPA provisions

Srinagar: A Day after the special Delhi Court ordered the attachment of All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) office in Srinagar, the sleuths of National Investigation Agency (NIA) sealed the headquarter of the separatist group.
The NIA team arrived at Rajbagh and attached the Hurriyat office on court directions under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). While the office of APHC has been shut after the scrapping of J&K’s special status on August 5, 2019, its chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has been under “house arrest” for the last over three years.
A notice pasted on the gates of the APHC by the NIA read that all members of the public are informed that the building, where the office of All Party Hurriyat Conference is located at Rajbagh, which is owned jointly by Nayeem Ahmed Khan, who is presently facing a trial in the NIA Court, Delhi, has been attached by the Court order Dated 27th January 2023 by Special NIA court, Patiala House New Delhi.
Nayeen Khan, arrested in 2017 by NIA, was heading Jammu & Kashmir National Front, that was a constituent of the moderate Hurriyat Conference.
On Saturday, the Additional Sessions Judge, special court New Delhi had ordered that the immovable property including the building office of All Parties Hurriyat Conference be attached.
The court, however, had added that the attachment in itself does not mean that there is any pre-trial conclusion regarding that property.
The NIA had moved an application before the court seeking passing of an order for attachment of the building office of Hurriyat Conference situated at Raj Bagh, Srinagar.
Reacting to the attachment of its headquarter, Hurriyat said it will not detach people from their “sentiment: to see the resolution of the Kashmir conflict.
“..those in command and control of J&K should know that the sentiment and desire to see the resolution of the Kashmir conflict and to live in fearless peace, is embedded in the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Hurriyat is a manifestation of that desire. Attaching buildings of stone and mortar will not detach people from their sentiment. They will continue to seek peaceful resolution,” APHC said in a statement. “It may seem good optics to those who want to send another shrill message to the people of Kashmir and get votes outside by it, but people of Jammu & Kashmir know better.”
UNI