Posted on 02/18/2005 8:55:36 PM PST by Srirangan
Source: Reuters
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Police in India arrested a leader of Kashmir's main separatist alliance on Friday for carrying fake currency soon after he left the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi, officials said.
The distribution of fake currency comes two days after India and Pakistan agreed to start a bus service between Indian Kashmir and the Pakistani part, boosting a flagging peace process.
Aziz, an executive member of the hardline faction of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference and a former militant, was caught by police with 100,000 rupees of fake Indian currency and 94,000 worth of valid United Arab Emirates dirhams, a police officer said.
"Secret intelligence was received...that a leader of Jammu Kashmir People's League who arrived in Delhi from Srinagar would come to the Pakistan High Commission and collect fake currency notes for circulation in Jammu and Kashmir," he told Reuters.
Aziz is a member of the Jammu Kashmir People's League, a constituent of the Hurriyat which has spearheaded the political struggle in Indian Kashmir against New Delhi's rule.
He was intercepted as he left the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi's diplomatic enclave in a car, police said.
An official of the Pakistan High Commission said the Indian police action looked "ridiculous" and "preposterous" especially in the context of the current peace process. Surprisingly distributing fake currency wasn't "ridiculous" and "preposterous" according to the Pakistani official.
Though tensions between India and Pakistan have eased as part of a peace process, New Delhi remains suspicious that Islamabad continues to aid Muslim terrorists in Jammu & Kashmir.
Pakistan denies the charge, saying it only provides moral and diplomatic support for the Kashmiri "freedom struggle". One has to wonder how "moral" is distributing fake currency notes via the Pakistani High Commission is.
Police said Aziz received arms training in Pakistan in the early 1990s. The Hurriyat conference slammed his arrest.
"This is the double-faced policy of the Indian government. On one hand, they talk of negotiations but, on the other, they arrest political persons," Syed Ali Shah Geelani, the chairman of the hardline faction of the Hurriyat, said in a statement.
In the latest violence, terrorists set off a bomb near a market in Poonch town, north of Jammu, winter capital of Indian Kashmir. Four people were wounded, police said.
Welcome to the wonderful world of Islam. Hope yu have a nice day! . . . . . . . . .
Welcome to the wonderful world of Islam. Hope you have a nice day! /sarcasm
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