NEW DELHI – In a latest act of oppression and crushing dissent, the Ministry of Home Affairs India has declared the Jammu and Kashmir faction of Jamaat-e-Islami ‘unlawful association’ for a period of five years.
A notification issued in this regard on Thursday alleged that the group has the potential to ‘disrupt the unity and integrity of the country’, claiming that the party was in close touch with militant outfits and supports extremism and militancy in Jammu and Kashmir – without furnishing any evidence in this regard.
The government said if the group’s activities are not curbed immediately, it is likely to ‘escalate its subversive activities including attempt to carve out an Islamic State out of the territory of Union of India’ and continue advocating the secession of Jammu and Kashmir.
Jamaat-e-Islami has been declared unlawful association according to the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (37 of 1967) which would remain effective for a period of five years.
In the wake of Pulwama attack and the uprising in Kashmir against the continued suppression of the public, police had arrested over 150 Jamaat leaders as part of a crackdown earlier.
Those detained include Advocate Zahid Ali (spokesperson), Ghulam Qadir Lone (former secretary general), Abdur Rouf (Ameer Zila Islamabad), Mudasir Ahmad (Ameer Tehsil Pahalgam), Abdul Salam (Dialgam), Bakhtawar Ahmad (Dialgam), Mohammad Hayat (Tral), Bilal Ahmad (Chadoora), Ghulam Mohammad Dar (Chak Sangran) and others.
Jamaat-e-Islami is a socio-religious political organisation active in Indian Occupied Kashmir. The Kashmir faction was founded in 1953 and this is the third time in its history that Jamaat-e-Islami has been banned.
