Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Mar 22: Though 18 persons have been booked for exchange of hawala money and indulging in other unlawful activities by misusing cross-Line of Control (LoC) trade facility between Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK), none of the five cases could be taken to logical conclusion till date. In four cases, investigation was still going on while as in one case challan has been submitted to the Government.
Ever since the start of cross-LoC trade on October 21, 2008 at Chakan-Da-Bagh and Salamabad (Uri) as a Confidence Building Measure (CBM) between India and Pakistan five incidents of exchanging of hawala money and other unlawful activities have come to the notice of the authorities concerned.
The first case was registered on October 4, 2009 at Police Station Sadder under FIR No.254 under Section 121-A, 120-B RPC and Unlawful Activities Prevention Act against five persons from whom the authorities even recovered Rs 13.85 lakh hawala money. The investigation in the case has been completed but the sanction was awaited from the Government for further legal action.
The accused in this case are Mushfiq Ahmad Lone, son of Mohd Yousaf Lone of Wagad Budgam, Vipin Kumar, son of Jagdesh Chander Sharma of Sind Road, Amritsar, Suraj Prakash, son of Ram Rattan Badyal of Purkhoo, Jammu, Sanjiv Kumar Tandon, son of Mohinder Kumar of Dayana Nagar, Amritsar and Zahoor Ahmad Dar, son of Ghulam Ahmad Dar of Asnoor Kulgam.
The second case was registered at Police Station CIK in 2011 when one Bashir Ahmad Wagay, son of Ghulam Rasool Wagay of Pehlipora Safapora Ganderbal was arrested under Section 7/25 Arms Act. The investigation in this case has not been completed till date despite lapse of considerable time. In the same year two more persons—Manzoor Ahmad Mir, son of Ghulam Nabi Mir of Kanlibagh Baramulla and Mushtaq Ahmad Lone, son of Abdul Hamid Lone of Kanalwan, Bijbehara Anantnag were booked under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and the investigation in this case was yet to be completed.
Last year, two cases were registered at Police Station Special Cell New Delhi and Police Station Awantipora in the months of January and May respectively.
In the case registered at New Delhi the authorities concerned recovered hawala money to the tune of Rs 2.24 crore from five persons namely—Iqbal alias Kana, resident of Kairana Uttar Pradesh, Zeeshan Khan, son of Mohd Hassan of Sitapuri Delhi, Ash Mohd, son of Abdul Khalid of Muzafar Nagar UP, Ghulam Ahmad alias Khawaja, son of Abdullah of Khwaja Mandi Poonch and Yaqoob Ali, son of Skukar Din of Narwal Wala, Jammu.
In the second case of 2012 five persons were booked under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. However, in both the cases the investigation has yet not been completed.
The accused in the case registered at Awantipora Police Station are Ghulam Nabi Bhat, son of Ali Mohd of Charsoo, Mushtaq Ahmad Sheikh, son of Laj Mohd of Dadsara, Peer Shah, son of Ghulam Ahmad of Panzgam, Salman Bhat, son of Ghulam Hassan of Panzgam and Nazir Jabar, son of Mohd Jabar Bhat of Reshipora.
According to Minister for Industries and Commerce, Sajjad Ahmed Kichloo, the value of goods exported/imported from PoK via Chakan-da-Bagh Poonch and Salamabad Uri with effect from October 21, 2008 to February 28, 2013 has been worked at Rs 1039.3296 crore and Rs 1758.6040 crore respectively.
He said that no item of third country origin has been allowed to be traded through cross LoC trade as per the additional guidelines of Standard Operating Procedure (SOP).
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