India arrests son of pro-Pakistan Kashmiri leader

By Zahid Rafiq

SRINAGAR, Jammu and Kashmir

Indian authorities on Thursday arrested the son of a pro-Pakistan leader in disputed Jammu and Kashmir.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) picked up Shakeel Yousuf, son of Syed Salahuddin, from capital Srinagar on Wednesday night.

The NIA alleged that Yousuf used to receive funds through a US-based international wire transfer company.

Yousuf works as a laboratory technician at a hospital in Srinagar.

The case in which he was arrested, registered by the NIA in April 2011, relates to transfer of money from Pakistan to Jammu and Kashmir through illegal channels via Delhi, which the agency claims was used in funding militancy in the region.

Salahuddin's elder son Syed Shahid Yousuf was also arrested by the NIA in October, last year. Shahid was a government employee in Jammu and Kashmir’s agriculture department. He remains incarcerated in Tihar Jail in capital New Delhi.

Their father, Salahuddin, is the chief of Hizbul Mujahideen and heads the United Jihad Council, an umbrella group of 13 militant outfits. He is based in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

Kashmir, a Muslim-majority Himalayan region, is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed by both in full. A small sliver of Kashmir is also held by China.

Since they were partitioned in 1947, the two countries have fought three wars -- in 1948, 1965 and 1971 -- two of them over Kashmir.

Also, in Siachen glacier in northern Kashmir, Indian and Pakistani troops have fought intermittently since 1984. A cease-fire came into effect in 2003.

Some Kashmiri groups in Jammu and Kashmir have been fighting against Indian rule for independence, or for unification with neighboring Pakistan.

According to several human rights organizations, thousands of people have reportedly been killed in the conflict in the region since 1989.