World News, Kathmandu,Nepalese police have arrested eight people, including a religious teacher from Jammu and Kashmir, on suspicion of aiding anti-India activities from the kingdom.
Officials here said Bashir Ahmad, a maulana or religious teacher from Jammu and Kashmir, was arrested from a madrassa or Islamic seminary in the Swayambhu area in Kathmandu, a popular pilgrimage site famed for the Buddhist shrine of Swayambhunath.
Within a fortnight of Ahmad's arrest, police arrested seven more people, reportedly from the same madrassa. Three of them are Indian Muslims from Jammu and Kashmir and the rest Nepalese Muslims.
The exact dates when the men were arrested could not be immediately ascertained.
Nepalese police suspect Ahmad of being a conduit for separatist militant outfits based in Pakistan. He is being probed for channelling money sent from Pakistan to Jammu and Kashmir to fund militant activities as well as anti-India propaganda.
One of the Indians, Ijaz Ahmad, is suspected of having direct links with a mujahideen group in Pakistan, officials said.
Banking and hawala-related documents were reportedly seized from the men.
All eight have been charged with anti-national activities, which under Nepalese laws also cover crimes against friendly neighbouring countries.
A special court in Kathmandu Tuesday remanded the men in police custody for a week. This was also the third time the court extended Ahmad's detention period.
Under the crimes they have been charged with, the men can be detained for investigation for 25 days at the most. After that, police have to either let them go or charge them formally in court.
If found guilty, the maximum punishment they face is seven years in prison or a fine of Rs.5,000 or both.
Some members of a leading political party of Nepal reportedly met Deputy Prime Minister Bharat Mohan Adhikari to urge him to have the men released.
Nepalese authorities, who were given a report on the mushrooming of madrassas in Nepal by Indian authorities during the visit of the Indian home secretary to Kathmandu, are pursuing their investigation. (Source: Kerala News)
Posted by proutist-universal on October 22, 2004 01:43 AM