INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The court asked Zahoor Watali to surrender his passport
Investigative Agency or the NIA for his alleged role in a terror-funding case involving Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief and 26/11 Mumbai attack
mastermind Hafiz Saeed.A bench of justices S Muralidhar and Vinod Goel set aside the trial court's June 8 order by which Watali was denied
bail.The bench directed that the release of the businessman on bail after furnishing a personal bond of Rs 2 lakh and two sureties of the
same amount.Zahoor Watali was directed not to influence or intimidate the prosecution's witnesses or tamper with the evidence in the case.He
was arrested on August 17 last year by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).Zahoor Watali, Saeed, Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin
and others have been accused by the NIA of "conspiring to wage war against the government" and fomenting trouble in the Kashmir valley.The
bench Thursday directed Watali to surrender his passport before the trial court and said he will not travel abroad without prior permission
of the court."If there is any breach of these conditions, it will be open to the NIA to apply to the trial court for cancellation of bail,"
the high court said.In its chargesheet, the NIA has alleged that officials of the Pakistan High Commission here were passing on money to
separatists in Jammu and Kashmir through Zahoor Watali.Separatist leaders have been accused of taking a cut of the money.Opposing the bail
plea, the NIA contended that the sources from which the accused had received the funds could not be satisfactorily explained by him.If
released on bail, he might hamper the probe and flee from justice, it said.In his application, Zahoor Watali said no offence under the
stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) was made out against him in the chargesheet.His counsel said the probe in the case was
already concluded and the charge sheet was filed.Saeed has been accused of using Zahoor Watali's services for passing on the money to the
separatists and some individuals, who were actively indulging in stone-pelting in the Valley.The NIA has charged Pakistan-based terrorists
Saeed and Salahuddin, besides 10 others, with criminal conspiracy, sedition and provisions of the UAPA.Besides Saeed, Salahuddin and Watali,
the agency has named separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani's son-in-law Altaf Shah alias Altaf Fantoosh and Bashir Ahmad Bhat in the
chargesheet.Hurriyat Conference leaders Nayeem Ahmad Khan, Farooq Ahmad Dar alias Bitta Karate, Mohammad Akbar Khanday and Raja Mehrajuddin
Kalwal have also been charged by the agency in the terror-funding case.All the accused are currently in judicial custody.Two of the accused
