SRINAGAR, Jammu and Kashmir – The families of pro-independence leaders inJammu and Kashmir are being harassed by Indian authorities as a clampdownon the decades-old resistance movement in the region intensifies in theaftermath of a deadly bombing earlier this year.
Anees Shah, grandson of Kashmir’s top resistance leader Syed Ali Geelani,has been summoned by India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Mondayin the capital New Delhi for interrogation.
He works as a research officer at a conference center in Kashmir. Hisfather, Altaf Ahmad Shah, has been jailed pending trial in New Delhi’sTihar prison for nearly two years.
“My grandfather is in politics. My father is in politics. But I have neverbeen in active politics, and when the Indian government cannot break downmy family through imprisonment, they come down at us,” Anees told AnadoluAgency.
His father and several other resistance leaders have been imprisoned in a2017 case which accuses them of raising, receiving and collecting fundsthrough various illegal means for funding anti-India activities in Jammuand Kashmir.
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“The NIA raided our house, they took all the documents, and they foundnothing there. The case against my father is a flimsy one, but the point ofit is only to harass us and weaken my family’s resolve,” he said.
He went on to say that earlier, his uncles, sons of Syed Ali Geelani, weresummoned by the investigation agency to answer questions and now they arecoming for the grandchildren.