NIA files chargesheet against Al-Huda Educational Trust

SRINAGAR — National Investigation Agency on Tuesday said that it filed a charge-sheet against Jamaat-e-Islami-linked Al-Huda Educational Trust in a case related to alleged militancy funding.

In a handout to the news agency GNS, the NIA said that JeI was declared an Unlawful Association in 2019. The NIA, which was subsequently mandated to investigate the continued suspicious activities of the militant outfit, registered a case against JeI in September 2022. It filed the chargesheet today in the NIA Special Court, J&K, after extensive investigations and multiple raids in Jammu and Kashmir.

According to the spokesman, a Pak-based Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) militant, Mushtaq Ahmed Mir alias Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar, is among the four individuals named in the chargesheet. Others charged in the case are AHET, Mohammad Amir Shamshi, a ‘Rukun’ (primary member) and chairperson of AHET, and Abdul Hamid Ganai alias Abdul Hamid Fayaz of Shopian. All four have been charged under various sections of UA(P) Act and IPC.

“Investigations have revealed that Md. Amir Shamshi was responsible for the day-to-day working of AHET, which was formed by JeI with the explicit purpose of mobilizing funds to carry on its secessionist activities in Jammu and Kashmir,” NIA claimed.

Amir collected funds for JeI, J&K, through the Trust in the form of educational and religious donations, it said. “He channelized the funds to his co-accused, Amir-e-Jamaat (Head of JeI J&K) Abdul Hamid Ganai, to further the banned outfit’s anti-India agenda,” it said.

Amir Shamshi also conspired with Mushtaq Ahmed Mir, originally a resident of Rajouri, the NIA said. “Mushtaq sent funds to Amir from Pakistan through Hawala channels. Amir used these funds to organize propaganda meetings to motivate individuals to engage in secessionist and militant activities,” reads the statement.