Illegal funds being transferred through hawala to inimical forces in Kashmir to incite violence, says Kiren Rijiju

Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju on Wednesday said that illegal funds are being sent through 'hawala' and other channels to inimical forces in Kashmir Valley to incite protests.

Rijiju made the statement in Rajya Sabha while replying to a written question. Rijiju's colleague, Minister of State for Home Hansraj Ahir also said that separatists and militants were receiving funds from foreign countries through 'hawala' and inward remittances.

Speaking on the ongoing Indo-Pak border tensions, Rijiju said 24 suspected militants, who were trying to infiltrate into Jammu and Kashmir, were killed, while 78 attempts of infiltrations were foiled till October-end this year.

Till October 2016, there were 201 incidents of infiltration from across the border into Jammu and Kashmir and 30 cases of infiltration into Punjab.

Five of our BSF jawans and nine others got injured due to cross-border firing between September and October this year.

Replying to another question, Ahir stressed that there was no information about espionage being carried out by Pakistan using pigeons. But some pigeons have been recovered with rubber tag with Pakistani telephone no/name of persons in the border areas.

With Inputs from PTI