Author: Vijay Dutt
Publication: The Hindustan Times
Date: June 10, 2002
Funds for terrorist groups operating
in Jammu and Kashmir are being openly raised at the Regent Park's gold-domed
mosque in the heart of London. Thousands come there from all over Britain
every Friday. In all, through various mosques, including the central mosque
in Birmingham, over £5 million are being collected annually by the
militant groups Lashkar-e-Tayyeba and Jaish-e-Mohammad.
Ironically, both these groups were
proscribed last January by Jack Straw when he was the Home Secretary. Any
association with the outlawed outfits or collection of funds for them was
made an offence. The gulity can under new laws be extradited immediately.
But, according to an investigative
report in the Sunday Telegraph, Abu Hamza, the Imam of Regent Park, the
biggest in Britain was unafraid and unfazed by any of such laws. He said
defiantly that if funds were being collected for terrorism he would support
such activities. "These people (fund collectors and donors) are defending
their Islamic brothers," said the Imam.
The report said: "Banned Kashmiri
terrorist groups whose attacks have been blamed for bringing India and
Pakistan on the brink of a nuclear war are being funded by Muslims in Britain."
The paper's investigators found
clerics proclaiming how money was being channelled to "freedom fighters"
in Kashmir. Another sympathiser boas-ted that it was 'easy' to send money
to terrorists, adding that he had a 'duty to support' fighting brothers.
These claims confirm the facts and
data given by the Indian authorities to the British Government. The dossier
of evidence submitted by India revealed bank account details of the Lashkar
and Jaish outfits here. The report was again given to Straw when he was
in Delhi recently. He promised to come down on such outfits with greater
severity.
But, there are over 600,000 Mirpuris
and Pakistani Kashmiris in this country whose support has been repeatedly
claimed by Lashkar and Jaish.
Govt may move UK over Thakur extradition
The government is likely to seek
deportation of London-based Kashmiri separatist leader Ayub Thakur in connection
with alleged funding of militancy in j&k. Highly placed sources said
the J&K government was in constant touch with the MEA to take up Thakur's
deportation from the UK.
Thakur's alleged involvement came
to light following the arrest of a magazine editor - Imtiaz Ahmad Bazaz
- along with two of his associates last week for allegedly funding militant
activities in the state.
PTI, New Delhi
