Three Indians held on terror charge in Nepal

Statesman News Service India
KATHMANDU, Oct. 13. — Nepalese police have arrested a Muslim religious leader, Bashir Ahmed, from a Kathmandu madrasa for allegedly helping Pakistani terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir. He is from the same state.
Within a fortnight of Ahmed’s arrest in September, seven more people were detained. Three of them are Indians. Police suspect the group had been funding terrorists from Nepal.
One of the three detainees, Ijaz Ahmed, is suspected of having direct links with Mujahideen groups in Pakistan. Bashir Ahmed, police allege, was involved in hawala deals, channeling funds sent from Pakistan to Jammu and Kashmir to sponsor Islamic militants.
The men, yet to be formally charged, are being kept in a Kathmandu prison. Bashir Ahmed was first produced in court on 24 September for an extension of his remand.
The eight men were produced in a special court on Tuesday with police again asking for an extension of their detention period.
With all eight being accused of crime against the state, which also covers crimes against a friendly neighbouring state, police can keep them in detention for a maximum of 25 days. After that they would have to be either released or formally charged in court. The special court has extended their custody till 19 October.
The arrests came after a local daily leaked out a letter from the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu to the Nepalese foreign ministry, asking for an investigation into the assets of an Nepalese businessman, alleging that he was being funded by mafia overlord Dawood Ibrahim, whom India suspects of having engineered the Mumbai blasts.
Frequent seizure of fake Indian currency in Nepal has been a thorn in the flesh of New Delhi, which suspects Pakistan’s ISI of having a network in the Himalayan kingdom.
India is said to have asked the Nepalese government to downsize the Pakistani Embassy here, saying its size was not commensurate with its activities in Nepal. The Indian Embassy declined to comment on the arrests. Sphere: Related Content