NEW DELHI – In a latest act of oppression and crushing dissent, theMinistry of Home Affairs India has declared the Jammu and Kashmir factionof Jamaat-e-Islami ‘unlawful association’ for a period of five years.
A notification issued in this regard on Thursday alleged that the group hasthe potential to ‘disrupt the unity and integrity of the country’, claimingthat the party was in close touch with militant outfits and supportsextremism and militancy in Jammu and Kashmir – without furnishing anyevidence 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 tocarve out an Islamic State out of the territory of Union of India’ andcontinue advocating the secession of Jammu and Kashmir.
Jamaat-e-Islami has been declared unlawful association according to theUnlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (37 of 1967) which would remaineffective for a period of five years.
In the wake of Pulwama attack and the uprising in Kashmir against thecontinued suppression of the public, police had arrested over 150 Jamaatleaders as part of a crackdown earlier.
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Those detained include Advocate Zahid Ali (spokesperson), Ghulam Qadir Lone(former secretary general), Abdur Rouf (Ameer Zila Islamabad), MudasirAhmad (Ameer Tehsil Pahalgam), Abdul Salam (Dialgam), Bakhtawar Ahmad(Dialgam), Mohammad Hayat (Tral), Bilal Ahmad (Chadoora), Ghulam MohammadDar (Chak Sangran) and others.
Jamaat-e-Islami is a socio-religious political organisation active inIndian Occupied Kashmir. The Kashmir faction was founded in 1953 and thisis the third time in its history that Jamaat-e-Islami has been banned.