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| Women as pawns: Pak-linked terror-funding module busted, 4 females among 6 held | | | Muskan Thakur
Early Times Report
Jammu, Oct 24: Jammu and Kashmir Police have busted what they describe as a terror-financing and separatist-propaganda network in north Kashmir. Six people, four of them women, have been arrested in Bandipora district. Police allege the network was run on the orders of a Pakistan-based handler, and it is the presence of four women in a single module that has set alarm bells ringing in security circles.
According to police, the module’s leader is Waheed Ahmed Butt, a resident of Handwara in Kupwara district. He was arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in 2022 in connection with an anti-national rally in Kupwara, and was released in 2024. Police say the module is allegedly linked to the banned separatist organisation Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen.
The other accused are Irfan Ahmed Reshi, Mubeena Bano, Khushboo Jan, Mehak Jan and Alia Jan.
Police allege Butt established contact with a Pakistan-based handler, identified as Manzoor Ahmad Shah, while lodged in Kupwara jail, and enlisted another inmate’s support there. After his release, he allegedly spread terrorist and separatist ideology in north Kashmir at the handler’s behest, organising secret meetings and mobilising people. According to the report, he attended about two dozen such meetings.
Police say he was released on health grounds, and allege he used that opportunity to push separatist activities. Once he was out, officers began monitoring him, which led them to the wider network. Investigators then tracked the others, gathered digital and other evidence, and made the arrests.
Police allege Butt brought several women into the network and held frequent meetings with them, five or six of them at a small hotel on the Bandipora-Baramulla road. Investigators are now probing who attended and what was discussed.
The women were also allegedly involved in spreading the ideology in their own areas. According to police, Butt channelled funds from across the border into their bank accounts. He is suspected of receiving about Rs 8 lakh over the past few years through women associated with the module. Of this, around Rs 2.26 lakh was allegedly deposited into the J&K Bank account of Mubeena Bano of Dachigam, Bandipora. The rest allegedly came through cash couriers.
Police say part of the money was distributed among associates, while some was allegedly used for Butt’s medical treatment.
A police officer involved in the investigation said the network also includes a cleric and two suspected couriers from Kupwara. The three are being hunted, and the officer expressed confidence that they too will be arrested.
A senior police officer said that women’s involvement in terrorist and separatist activity in Kashmir is not new. But earlier cases typically involved one or two women per module, which makes four arrested together in one case a worrying sign. In the officer’s assessment, it points to a possible rise in the recruitment of women by Pakistani intelligence agencies and cross-border handlers.
The reasoning, the officer suggested, is that women may attract less suspicion, which could make it easier for such networks to operate.
All the accused are yet to face trial, and the allegations remain to be proven in court. |
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