Mir was instrumental in organizing counter-protests whenever the government needed to confront pro-freedom leaders. He also enjoys strong influence in Indian security agencies. In fact, in September 2010, when an all-party delegation that included the then Indian home minister P Chidambaram and BJP leader Arun Jaitley decided to move out to meet people, they headed to Tangmarg where Mir had arranged for villagers to interact with them, sources said.

Sources also suggested that Mir had organized a 'paid crowd' in Tangmarg so that the all-party delegation was not left 'disheartened'.

A top secret investigation being carried out by the Indian ministry of Defence and state government has revealed that apart from Youth Empowerment Services (YES) Kashmir, another NGO allegedly set up by a close family member of Agriculture Minister Ghulam Hassan Mir may have received substantial sums of money from the Technical Support Division (TSD) which was run by, former army chief GEN V K Singh.

Highly placed sources told a local daily that the money given by Indian Army may have been used for counter agitation during 2010 unrest while part of that money was used to create space for the NGO in Kashmir's civil society forum. (Agencies)