By
IOL South Asia Correspondent
NEW
DELHI, March 5 (IslamOnline.net) - Kashmiri leader Anjum Zamrooda
Habib, who was arrested on February 6, on allegations of receiving
money from the Pakistan diplomatic mission in India, refuted the
charge, asserting police had forced her to make the confession.
Zamrooda
Habib told a city court Tuesday, March 4, “police had forced me to
make false entries in the diary.”
When
asked as to why she had admitted to having received a nazrana (gift)
from the Pakistani embassy, she replied that she had never mentioned
the word in her deposition.
In
her deposition on February 7, Zamrooda Habib allegedly admitted she
had received a nazrana of Rs 3,00,000 ($6,300) from the Pakistan
embassy to be passed on to the leader of All Party Hurriyat Conference
(APHC), Abdul Ghani Bhat.
APHC
is a conglomerate of 27 Kashmiri organizations and Zamrooda Habib is a
member of its general body.
She
requested the court not to believe allegations leveled against her by
the Indian police.
The
judge assured her that he will look into it at the right time.
The
APHC had also denied the charge soon after her arrest.
An
APHC spokesman in Srinagar, capital of Jammu and Kashmir, had said she
was being unfairly victimized.
The
incident was followed by India and Pakistan expelling each other’s
diplomats. It also led to the closure of the Delhi office of Hurriyat
Conference.
As
Zamrooda Habib was presented in the court, her colleague, former APHC
spokesman in New Delhi, Abdul Majid Bandey, was questioned for the
second time by Delhi Police in connection with Pakistani funding of
the independence-seeking movement.
At
the time of Zamrooda Habib’s arrest the Delhi police claimed to have
recovered a diary from her containing names of militant outfits
operating in India and the amount of money to be paid to each.
Following
a raid on the APHC office in New Delhi the same day, police alleged to
have recovered a list of Kashmiri and Pakistani fighters lodged in the
high-security prison at Tihar in the capital.
APHC
leaders in Srinagar had said they had been keeping in touch with
foreign embassies, including those of the U.S. and others as a matter
of routine to keep them apprised of developments in Kashmir.
