MHA extends ban on Yasin Malik’s JKLF-Y for five years
The home ministry also imposed a fresh ban on Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Freedom League (JKPFL) and 4 factions of Jammu and Kashmir Peoples League (JKPL).
The ministry of home affairs (MHA) on Friday extended the ban on separatist leader Yasin Malik’s Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF-Y) under the anti-terror law as it believes the organisation continues to propagate anti-India activities.
The JLKF-Y was earlier declared an “unlawful association” under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act or UAPA on March 22, 2019.
Yasin Malik is currently lodged in Tihar prison serving life imprisonment in a terror funding case. He was sentenced in May 2022 for raising, receiving and collecting funds domestically and abroad through various illegal channels, including hawala, for funding separatist and terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir, and conspiring to cause disruption in the Kashmir valley by pelting stones on the security forces, systematically burning schools, damaging public property and waging war against the Indian government.
A notification issued by MHA on late Friday evening stated, “The Central government is of the opinion that if the unlawful activities of the JKLF-Y are not curbed and controlled immediately, it will take the opportunity to – escalate its subversive activities including attempt to carve out a separate state out of the territory of Union of India by destabilising the government established by law; continue advocating the secession of Jammu and Kashmir; and propagate anti-national and separatist sentiments prejudicial to the territorial integrity and security of the country”.
It said the government is of the opinion that it is necessary to declare the JKLF-Y as an ‘unlawful association’ with immediate effect “for a period of five years”.
The ministry, through two separate notifications on Friday, also imposed fresh ban on two more Kashmir based organisations - Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Freedom League (JKPFL), chaired by Mohammad Farooq Shah alias Farooq Rehmani; and four factions of Jammu and Kashmir Peoples League (JKPL) - identified as JKPL (Mukhtar Ahmed Waza), JKPL (Bashir Ahmad Tota), JKPL (Ghulam Mohammad Khan alias Sopori) also known as Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Political League and JKPL (Aziz Sheikh) led by Yaqoob Sheikh, for their illegal activities.
About JKPFL, the ministry’s notification state that “members of the JKPFL have remained involved in supporting terrorist activities and anti-India propaganda for fuelling secessionism in Jammu and Kashmir”.
“The the leaders and members of JKPFL have been involved in mobilising fund for perpetrating unlawful activities, including supporting secessionist, separatist and terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir,” it said.
Referring to the activities of four factions of JKPL, the MHA said they “are involved in promoting, aiding and abetting secession of Jammu and Kashmir from India by involving in anti-national and subversive activities; sowing seeds of disaffection amongst people; exhorting people to destabilise public order; encouraging the use of arms to separate Jammu and Kashmir from the Union of India; promoting hatred against established government, giving clarion call to boycott elections on multiple occasions and for ‘Black Day’ and shutdown on the Republic Day and Independence Day of India in Jammu and Kashmir”.
Both outfits have been banned for five years.