Terror funding case: Delhi Court sends Kashmiri journalist Irfan Mehraj to 10-day NIA custody

A Delhi court Wednesday remanded Kashmiri journalist Irfan Mehraj to National Investigation Agency (NIA) custody for 10 days in an Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) case related to terror funding in the Kashmir valley. .Special NIA judge at Patiala House Court passed the order after Mehraj was produced by the agency before the court. .The journalist was arrested on Monday from Srinagar. His arrest was condemned by the Editors Guild of India (EGI), Amnesty International and the Journalist Federation of Kashmir. In a statement, the Editors Guild said that it is "deeply concerned about the excessive use of UAPA against journalists, most recently, in the case of the arrest of Irfan Mehraj, a Kashmir-based journalist, by the NIA". The EGI urged the state administration to respect democratic values..However, in a statement put out on Tuesday, the NIA had said that Mehraj was a close associate of Khurram Parvez and was working with his organization, Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Societies (JKCCS). "Investigation revealed that the JKCCS was funding terror activities in the valley and had also been in propagation of secessionist agenda in the Valley under the garb of protection of human rights," the NIA said. Parvez is a Kashmiri human rights activist. He was also arrested by the NIA in November 2021 on allegations of terror funding and conspiracy. .In its statement, the counter-terrorism agency further said that Mehraj's arrest is the first arrest made by them in the NGO terror funding case which was registered in October 2020.NIA said that it is probing the involvement of some valley-based NGOs, trusts and societies in funding of terror related activities in the case."Some NGOs, both registered as well as un-registered, have come to notice collecting funds domestically and abroad under the cover of doing charity and various welfare activities, including Public Health, Education etc. But some of these organisations have developed links with proscribed terrorist organizations, such as Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) etc," the agency claimed.