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| Sunday, 12 January 2003 |
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India withdraws case against Kashmiri journalist NEW DELHI, Saturday (AFP) The Indian government will free a Kashmiri journalist imprisoned seven months ago for allegedly possessing sensitive documents after failing to make a case against him, media reports said Saturday. Iftikar Geelani, who was working for the Kashmir Times newspaper, was taken into custody in June, hours after his father-in-law, leading hardline Muslim separatist Syed Ali Geelani, was detained under the tough Prevention of Terrorism Act. Authorities accused Syed Geelani, who remains in custody, of receiving money from the Pakistan-based leadership of Kashmir's main rebel group, Hizbul Mujahedin, and distributing it to the outfit's commanders in the Indian zone of the disputed region. India's home ministry had said that Iftikar Geelani had in his possession a computer with information about the deployment of Indian troops in Kashmir in violation of the country's Official Secrets Act. Police also alleged that the reporter was on the payroll of Islamabad, arguing their case by producing e-mail messages he allegedly received from Pakistani journalists. But newspapers said Saturday that the home ministry was unable to make a case against Iftikar Geelani despite repeated interrogation and that he would be released in the coming days after formalities are completed. The ministry's case reportedly fell through when the army's director general of military intelligence, O.S. Lochab, in recent testimony before a special court said the documents in Geelani's possession could not be deemed as "classified." Geelani had been denied bail twice on the grounds that the charges against him were serious. More than 37,500 people have died in Kashmir since Islamic rebels launched an armed struggle in 1989 to end Indian rule and either become independent or join Pakistan, according to security forces' figures. Separatists put the death toll twice as high. |
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