Hurriyat suspends Nayeem Khan over sting op remarks

The Geelani faction of the Hurriyat Conference suspended the membership of Jammu Kashmir National Front chairman Nayeem Khan on Saturday, a few days after a sting operation by a Noida-based television channel allegedly showed him admitting to the use of Pakistani funds to finance the 2016 unrest.

Confirming the development, a Hurriyat leader told Hindustan Times that Khan will remain suspended until "further inquiries are conducted".

Earlier in the day, Khan told reporters that the sting operation was "fake and doctored". Addressing a press conference in Srinagar, he alleged that the media group had used his statements out of context to "defame the Kashmir struggle".

"We generate funds at the local level to help victims of the conflict," Khan added.

The sting operation, which also featured Tehreek-E-Hurriyat leader Gazi Javed Baba and Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (R) chairman Farooq Ahmed Dar, showed Khan saying that all "separatists get funds from



Pakistan". Neither of the three had been in the news in recent times.

Separatist leader Yasin Malik lodged a police complaint against a woman journalist of the media group concerned on Friday, alleging that she "breached his privacy". "I was sleeping when she barged into my room, asking questions about the sting. I was half-asleep. This is against the ethics of journalism. You don't barge into people's bedrooms, telling the family that you have an appointment,'' the separatist leader said.

Malik was not named in the sting.

An NIA team had arrived in Srinagar the previous day to question top separatist leaders regarding funds received from Pakistani sources, including terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), to fuel the Kashmir unrest. Although sources said four prominent separatist figures - including hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Khan - will be questioned in this regard, a Hurriyat spokesperson said they have "received no notice so far".