Srinagar: The Centre appears to have widened its crackdown on separatists to include their top leadership in the aftermath of their rejection of talks with the government's Kashmir interlocutor.

On Friday, the Enforcement Directorate issued a show-cause notice to Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chairman Yasin Malik, one of the spearheads of last year's unrest in the Valley, in a 16-year-old case.

The 2001 case relates to the seizure of Rs 48 lakh in illegally held foreign currency from Srinagar-based businessman Mushtaq Ahmad and his wife, who are said to be close to Malik.

The National Investigation Agency and the ED have so far arrested or questioned leaders close to the top three separatist leaders - Malik, Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. However, this is the first time one of the trio has faced direct action.

Sources in the separatist ranks said they were anticipating that the NIA and the ED would open old cases against Geelani and Farooq as well, but added that such "arm-twisting" would not work.

The Centre last month appointed former Intelligence Bureau chief Dineshwar Sharma as its representative for talks with all the stakeholders in Jammu and Kashmir.

However, the initiative suffered a jolt when Geelani, Farooq and Malik last week said any talks with the interlocutor would be futile because New Delhi did not accept their basic demands.

The three leaders questioned how the Narendra Modi government could engage with people who wanted the right to self-determination for Kashmiris when he had dismissed suggestions of autonomy for the state.

Malik said on Saturday that such "threatening notices" would not weaken their resolve to fight for azadi. "Our role model is Shaheed Maqbool Bhat and I myself am ready to enter the death cell," Malik said. "None can take out the love for freedom from our hearts."

Malik was referring to JKLF founder Bhat who was hanged in Tihar Jail in 1984.

Malik had been arrested in the case in 2001 and was released on bail.