NIA summons: Mirwaiz Umar Farooq mum over it

Suspense builds over Moderate Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq's decision whether to appear before the NIA or not on Monday even as the former Chief Minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti said summoning religious and spiritual head is emblematic of Centre's repeated assaults on their religious identity.

Mirwaiz has been asked to report to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) office in Delhi on Monday in the case registered in 2017 under different sections of Indian Penal Code including 121 (waging war against the state) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) and others.

Mirwaiz held an emergency meeting on Sunday to discuss the future course of the action following the NIA summons. There was no official word whether he would appear before the NIA on Monday.

Later Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) of separatists termed the NIA summons to Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Hurriyat hawk Syed Ali Geelani's son Syed Naseem Geelani as sheer political vendetta deserving strongest condemnation.

JRL is a conglomerate of Hurriyat hawk Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Moderate Hurriyat Conference Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik, who spearheaded the 2016 unrest in Kashmir.

"NIA raids on the residences of leaders and their relatives followed by summoning them to New Delhi is a fresh attempt to build pressure on the pro-resolution leadership to push them into submission so that they stop pursing the resolution of the Kashmir issue.", said a JRL in a statement

JRL said NIA and other agencies of centre in the past conducted raids on the residences of separatist leaders including women leaders and arrested many of them who continue to languish in New Delhi's Tihar jail.

JRL said they have time and again made it clear that they won't come under any pressure and face the fresh onslaught of Delhi in the form of NIA and ED raids and summons with full resilience but continue to pursue the cause of truth and justice. "Seeking right to self-determination for Jammu & Kashmir is no crime for which the leadership is being persecuted", the JRL said.

On the other side, Mehbooba has thrown her weight behind Mirwaiz and assailed Centre for summoning Hurriyat leader, who is also the chief cleric of Kashmir.

POLTICAL GAME

The authorities on Sunday imposed restrictions in parts of the city here as a precautionary measure to maintain law and order in view of a strike called by various trade bodies against the NIA summon to moderate Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq