The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday (July 10, 2026) filed a charge sheet against six senior separatist Hurriyat Conference leaders, three of whom are dead, in connection with a 1996 case of mob violence and indiscriminate firing on police personnel in Srinagar.
Those named in the charge sheet are Democratic Freedom Party chief Shabir Ahmad Shah, Tehreek-e-Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, J&K People’s Conference founder Abdul Ganie Lone, J&K Liberation Front leader Javid Ahmad Mir, Islamic Students League chairman Shakeel Ahmad Bakshi, and Mohammad Yaqoob Wakeel.
The NIA said all the six separatist leaders were charged under relevant provisions of the Ranbir Penal Code, 1989, for criminal conspiracy, attempt to murder, rioting and assault on public servants, along with Section 13 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
“The charges against Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Abdul Ganie Lone and Mohd. Yaqoob Wakeel stand abated as they had passed away during the pendency of the proceedings. However, the charge sheet clearly established their roles in the criminal conspiracy and the common object of the unlawful assembly, along with supporting evidence,” said the NIA.
According to the agency, it was ascertained during the investigation that all the six accused had led an unlawful assembly and instigated large-scale violence against police personnel during a funeral procession of slain terrorist Hilal Ahmad Beigh at Naaz Crossing, Srinagar, on July 17, 1996.
“Armed terrorists blended in with the procession, which was jointly led by the accused Hurriyat leaders, had fired indiscriminately at police personnel during the violence, in which several police officials were injured. Government vehicles were also extensively damaged in heavy stone pelting on the occasion,” the NIA said.
The national investigation said the charged Hurriyat leaders had actively incited the violence, raising anti-India, pro-Pakistan and secessionist slogans. They had delivered inflammatory speeches advocating armed struggle.
“Meticulous investigation by the anti-terror agency clearly established that the mob violence was part of a larger, pre-planned criminal conspiracy of the Hurriyat leadership to use the funeral procession as a platform for propagating separatist ideology, mobilising public support against the Government of India, provoking public disorder, and inciting violence against law enforcement agencies, while demonstrating the strength of the Hurriyat in Jammu & Kashmir,” the NIA said.
The NIA took over the case in April 2026 on the directives of the Union Home Ministry. “Investigation in the case is continuing,” it added.
Shabir Shah, 72, who has remained in and out of jail since 1989, was granted bail by the Supreme Court on March 28, 2026, in a money laundering case the NIA is probing. He was arrested in 2017. Mr. Shah has spent more than three decades in jail, according to the family.
Published - July 10, 2026 04:08 pm IST