Saroori denies any link with Hizbul ultra

Tribune News Service

Jammu, February 12

A day after he was quizzed by NIA investigating terror incidents in Kishtwar district, senior Congress leader and former minister GM Saroori on Wednesday denied having links with Hizbul Mujahideen’s longest surviving militant, Mohammad Amin Bhat, alias ‘Jahangir Saroori’ in Kishtwar.

“I have nothing to hide and do not need a certificate from anyone. He (Bhat) is neither Saroori nor linked with my family. NIA needs to probe the conspiracy why Saroori was added to his code name after 2014, although previously he was only known in police records by the alias of Jahangir,” Saroori, who is the vice–president of the Congress, and three time legislator from the Inderwal constituency of Kishtwar, told mediapersons here.

Bhat is considered as the brain behind the revival of terrorism in Kishtwar which was declared terrorism free over a decade ago before it was rocked by several terror incidents, including four targeted killings since November 2018.

Saroori said NIA served him a notice under Section 160 of the CrPC and had not made any allegations against him. “NIA had served this notice to over 300 persons and being a prominent public figure, I too was called by it. I have nothing to hide and I have no issue to present myself before the agency 10 times more,” he said.

“NIA questioned me about Bhat. I do not know him and he is not related to my family. In fact, he is not Saroori and he belongs to a village which falls in Saroor panchayat, while my ancestral village is located in Sarthal and we migrated to Kishtwar town in 1992-93 during the peak of militancy in the region,” he said and demanded a thorough probe into the past communal riots in the district by NIA.

Yesterday, Saroori had produced himself at NIA office in Jammu for questioning in connection with the terror cases in Kishtwar.