A religious figure associated with the Al Huda Educational Trust (AHET) was arrested in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday, as the National Investigation Agency (NIA) raided 18 locations in a case related to suspect funding activities.
According to the NIA, the AHET has been found raising funds through various means, including donations, hawala etc. purportedly for charitable purposes, “but are instead using these funds to radicalise and incite the youth of J&K for unlawful activities and disrupt the territorial integrity and sovereignty of India.”
The NIA said it had suo motu registered a case on September 3, 2022.
“The arrested accused, Muhammad Ameer Shamshi, is the chairperson (Nizam-e-ala) of AHET, Rajouri, and acts on the directions of the chief patron of the Trust. The ex-officio chief patron of AHET is the Ameer-e-Jamaat, Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI, J&K). The trust continued to raise funds even after the declaration of JeI, J&K, as an ‘unlawful association’,” a NIA spokesman said.
The JeI was banned by the Centre in 2019. The NIA said the AHET’s questionable links with other NGOs and trusts operating in the Kashmir Valley had also emerged during the investigations.
The NIA conducted searches at 18 locations in J&K’s Rajouri, Poonch, Jammu, Srinagar, Bandipora, Shopian, Pulwama and Budgam districts. “During the searches, several mobile devices and documents related to funding, properties etc. have been seized,” the NIA said.
Sources said the NIA also searched the house of famous cleric Moulana Rahmatullah Mir Qasmi, who runs a seminary in north Kashmir’s Bandipora. Two weeks ago, Mr. Qasmi opposed the alleged government move to introduce Hindu hymns and practices in schools in the Kashmir Valley. He had warned the government against such moves and asked parents to withdraw students from such schools.
