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| India-Pakistan |
| Thakur admits he sent money to J&K |
| 2002-06-20 |
| Britain-based Kashmiri separatist leader Ayub Thakur, who is accused of funding militants in Jammu and Kashmir, on Tuesday admitted that his organisation Mercy Universal had sent Rs 500,000 to Srinagar in last couple of months for "charity work" and claimed that the money was meant for destitute women. Thakur, president of the World Kashmir Freedom Movement (WKFM) said the money was meant for buying 800 sewing machines for widows. Where those the 7.62mm sewing machines, or the 5.56mm with the armor-piercing bobbins? Mercy Universal, a registered charitable organisation, of which Thakur is a trustee, is reportedly being investigated by Scotland Yard and the British Charity Commission for allegedly funding Kashmiri militants. Thakur, however, refused to comment on the investigations. " You should ask them....I assure you that they all know that I have not committed any violation of law. Every penny has been spent on charity." The charity organisation has followed the British laws he added. He also said that the funds were channelled through one Imtiaz Bazaz who is now in the custody of Indian police. "So it wudn't me. Couldna been me. It was all Imtiaz' fault..." He said, "Bazaz had been recommended by the charity's office in Srinagar." He had similarly told Hindustan Times a few days ago that his organisation WKFM never sent any money to any politician. Only to pious holy men, men with turbans... He averred that some Indian medical institutes also wanted his charity to fund their mobile clinics, each costing about £40,000. Funds could not be sent because no channel was available. So he spent the money on some 23mm antiaircraft baking pans that could be converted to antitank blenders. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |