JOIN USArrested J&K trader politically well-connected
Kashmiri businessman Zahoor Watali, who was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday in an alleged money laundering case, belongs to an influential bureaucratic family of the Valley.
His cousin Ali Mohammad Watali, who was a deputy inspector general of police in late 1980’s, was among the first officers in Kashmir to fight against militants. On September 18, 1988, the attack on the officer’s house was the first signal of militancy taking roots in the Valley.
Zahoor’s nephew, Shafqat Watali, is a senior IPS officer of J&K cadre and is currently Inspector General of Police (IGP) in the state. Zahoor Watali was first time arrested on August 6, 1990, when paramilitary Border Security Forces (BSF) raided his uptown residence in Srinagar, where JKLF commanders including Yasin Malik, were hiding.
Incidentally, separatist-turned-mainstream politician Sajjad Lone, who is a cabinet minister in PDP-BJP alliance government, was also arrested along with Watali, Malik and a few other JKLF commanders then.
He was again arrested in August 1994 for connections with the financing of militant outfit Al Burq by Pakistan spy agency ISI. However, he managed his release both the times due to his connections with the top political circles.
A senior police officer said that Watali was a close confidant of Sajjad’s father, late Abdul Gani Lone, who was assassinated by militants on May 21, 2002. Watali, who actually belongs to a remote Katwari village in north Kashmir’s Handwara area, migrated to Srinagar either in late 70’s or early 80’s and initially was a personal driver of late Gani Lone.
He then started timber trade where there were large-scale allegations of smuggling against him. “Watali all of a sudden invested a lot of money in real estate business in early 1990’s and within a short span, he became a big shot in Srinagar. He is known to be friends with Pakistani leaders and separatists as well as mainstream politicians in Kashmir,” the officer said and added there are also a couple of cases of land grabbing registered against him.
In September 2011, former prime minister of Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir, Sultan Mehmood Chaudhary attended the marriage ceremony of Watali’s son at the business tycoon’s residence in the Srinagar. Then J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah, then state Congress president Saif-ud-Din Soz and who-is-who of politics were present at the function when Chaudhary and Omar had a one-to-one meeting for 30-mins at Watali’s residence.
Watali owns a large number of properties not only in Kashmir but also in Delhi, Dubai and London. According to the NIA sources, he used his Trison Group of companies for allegedly to channel ISI funds to India for separatist activities.
The NIA arrested Watali on the charges of acting as a conduit for illegally remitting funds to the separatists, militants and stone-pelters. The NIA dossier also mentions past cases in which Watali is under investigation which include that of illegal encroachment of land and assault which was registered in Srinagar under sections for Prevention of Corruption Act and other IPC sections.
DH News Service