Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Friday banned separatist Yasin Malik’s Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) under the anti-terror law, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (UAPA). The move comes days after the Centre banned Jamat-e-Islami (JeI-J&K) under Section 3(1) of the UAPA.
The JKLF was also banned under the same sections, which gives power to the Centre to declare any association as unlawful by notifying it in the Official Gazette.
Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba told the media that murders of Kashmiri Pandits by the JKLF in 1989 triggered their exodus from the Valley. “Yasin Malik was the mastermind behind the purging of Kashmiri Pandits and is responsible for their genocide,” Mr. Gauba said.
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The decision followed a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Mr. Gauba said 37 FIRs have been registered by the J&K Police against the JKLF. “Two cases including in the murder of IAF personnel were registered by the CBI. The NIA has also registered a case, which is under investigation. It is evident from these that JKLF continues to be actively engaged in supporting and inciting secessionism and terrorism,” he said.
Asked about the immediate trigger for the ban, Mr. Gauba said the activities of the outfit pose a serious threat to the security of the country and the “organisation has been actively and continuously encouraging, feelings of enmity and hatred against the lawfully established Government as well as armed rebellion.”
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JKLF is part of the Joint Resistance Leadership which includes the S.A.S. Geelani-led Hurriyat Conference. Mr. Malik is now in solitary confinement in a Jammu jail after he was booked under the Public Safety Act amid last month’s crackdown after the Pulwama terror attack where 40 CRPF personnel were killed.
It was the first outfit to pick up arms in the Valley but joined the dialogue process in 2000 with the Centre when late Atal Bihari Bajpayee was the Prime Minister.
Mr. Gauba said the JKLF was responsible for the murder of four Indian Air Force personnel and abduction of Dr. Rubaiya Sayeed, daughter of the then Home Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. “This organisation is also responsible for illegal funnelling of funds for fomenting terrorism....actively involved in raising of funds and its distribution to Hurriyat cadres and stone-pelters to fuel unrest in the Kashmir Valley as well as for subversive activities,” Mr. Gauba said.
The notification banning JKLF said the organisation is involved in anti-national and subversive activities intended to disrupt the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India.
“JKLF-Y is in close touch with militant outfits and is supporting extremism and militancy in J&K and elsewhere,” it said.