Srinagar Dec 30 PTI The bonhomie between Hurriyat leaders and their masters in Pakistan was highlighted on Thursday in a charge sheet filed by JK Polices SIA against nine people mostly separatists for allegedly selling MBBS seats in the neighbouring nation to Kashmiri students and using the money to spread unrest in the Union territory officials said The Special Investigation Agency SIA a newly carved-out unit of Jammu and Kashmir Police submitted the charge sheet in a special court here against the nine including Mohammed Akbar Bhat alias Zaffar Bhat a constituent of the Hurriyat Conference It said that during investigation it surfaced the accused were affiliated with Hurriyat chapter of Kashmir and Pakistan and were illegally making money under a planned conspiracy The case was registered in July last year by the Counter Intelligence Kashmir CIK a branch of the polices CID which was designated as the SIA after receiving information through reliable sources that several unscrupulous people including some Hurriyat leaders were hand in glove with educational consultancies and were selling seats of MBBS and other courses in Pakistani colleges and universities Besides Bhat who is the chairman of Salvation Movement a constituent of moderate Hurriyat Conference the charge sheet named his brother Altaf Ahmad Bhat along with Manzoor Ahmad Shah both living in Pakistan religious leader from Anantnag Qazi Yasir Fatima Shah Mohammad Abdullah Shah Sabzar Ahmad Sheikh and Mohd Iqbal Mir of Mahaz Azadi Front and Syed Khalid Geelani Five people Bhat Fatima Shah Mohammad Abdullah Shah Sabzar Ahmad Sheikh and Mohd Iqbal Mir were arrested produced before the court and sent to Central Jail Srinagar Altaf Ahmad Bhat Qazi Yasir and Manzoor Ahmad Bhat were absconding and the process of declaring them absconders was initiated by the SIA The ninth accused Geelani would be charged only for cheating and a separate challan would be filed against him the charge sheet stated The case could come in handy in carrying out the provisions of banning both factions of Hurriyat Conference as Bhat was involved in amalgams anti-national activities The historical bonhomie between Hurriyat leaders and their masters in Pakistan has been again exposed through investigations and has exposed their nefarious designs once more of being hand in glove with the terrorists based in Kashmir and Pakistan and the undercurrents of their close knit relationship is only to destabilise the Union Territory of JK and Union of India an official said The charge sheet said Hurriyat Conference an alliance of 26 political and religious organisations was formed in 1993 as a united political front to carry out separatists movement in the erstwhile state Since its inception it invited locals through hollow slogans and destructive emotionalism and always mislead the people of Kashmir at the behest of Pakistan the charge sheet said During investigation the role played by Hurriyat Conference in terror funding was brought to light through evidence like the funds collected by its leaders and their associates under the guise of providing technical education to Kashmiri students in Pakistan The same money was routed to finance terrorism and terror-related activities in the valley and moreover it surfaced that by incentivising the kin of killed militants through finances the Hurriyat was trying to keep the pot boiling in the UT the charge sheet said While recording statements it came to be known that the money was ploughed into militancy to create law and order problems by disturbing peace damaging public property striking terror among the masses and creating potential threat to the sovereignty of India the officials said On the strength of the evidence collected both documentary and oral the involvement of the accused was prima facie established A criminal conspiracy was hatched by them as part of which they raised money under different pretexts and distributed it through Hurriyat leaders and their tacit associates to terrorists in the valley stone pelters and the families of slain terrorists The information on the basis of which criminal probe started in the matter also suggested that the money collected from parents of aspiring or potential students was used at least partly to support and fund terrorism and separatism the charge sheet said Evidence also showed that money was put into channels that supported programmes pertaining to terrorism and separatism The money was used to fuel unrest after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in south Kashmir in 2016 and every effort was made to disturb peace after abrogation of Article 35A of the Indian Constitution in August 2019 it said The charge sheet said the examination of witnesses corroborated by other circumstantial evidence indicated that many families approached Hurriyat leaders to avail its programme at the behest of Pakistans ISI that aimed to incentivise terror by compensating families of slain terrorists by providing free MBBS and engineering seats as monetary consideration The official said on average a seat cost between Rs 10-12 lakh and depending upon the political heft of the Hurriyat leader who intervened concessions were extended to the aspiring student and his family Considering that there were 40 seats for MBBS every year a conservative estimate indicated that the money involved could be around Rs 4 crore per annum the official added PTI SKL AAR AAR