Padma Mohanty
NEW DELHI | The Indian government on Friday prohibited Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) led by Muhammad Yasin Malik, as it was responsible for promoting terrorism and secession-ism in the state. The organization has been debarred under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Its chief Yasin Malik is under arrest and is presently in Jammu jail.
This is the second organization in Jammu and Kashmir. After a meeting on security held by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the government decided to ban the outfit on grounds that it is “in close touch with militant outfits” and is bracing radicalism and activism in Jammu and Kashmir.
Highlights Of JKLF:
JKLF was founded by Amanullah Khan in Birmingham in June 1976 from the erstwhile UK chapter of the ‘Plebiscite Front’. Maqbool Bhat is often credited as being its co-founder. It is secular after being having Muslim members in it. It continues to assert that a secular, independent Kashmir free of both India and Pakistan is its eventual goal. It regards Pakistan as an ‘occupation power’ and carries out political struggle against it in Azad Kashmir, apart from having weapons and training practices from the Pakistani army.
The JKLF has spearheaded the “separatist ideology in the (Kashmir) Valley and has been at the forefront of separatist activities and violence since 1988“, Gauba told the media here. The JKLF was also criticized for the murder of four Indian Air Force members and the hijacking of Rubaiya Sayeed, daughter of the Union Home Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed who later became the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. The organization is also responsible for the illegal passing of funds for exciting terrorism. It actively participates in raising funds and its distribution to Hurriyat cadres and stone-pelters to fuel unrest in the Kashmir Valley as well as for subversive activities. It was the first outfit to contribute arms in the Valley but joined the dialogue process in 2000 with the Centre when late Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister.
FIRs have been registered by Police against JKLF. Two cases, including the case of the murder of an IAF personnel, were registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation. The National Investigation Agency has also registered a case that is under investigation. Hurriyat Conference leader Syed Ali Geelani, who advocates J&K’s merger with Pakistan, has been booked under the Foreign Exchange Management Act for illegally possessing foreign exchange of $10,000. Geelani had been fined Rs 14.40 lakh following the appropriation of the unaccounted foreign exchange from his premises in J&K on Wednesday, the agency said.
It seems that the organization is involved in anti-national and subversive activities predetermined to make a mess of 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,” Mr. Gauba said.
The former J&K chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, said: “detrimental steps like these will only turn Kashmir into an open-air prison”. Yasin Malik redeclared violence as a way of resolving the J&K issue a long time ago. He was treated as a stakeholder in a dialogue initiated by then PM Vajpayee Ji.
