Why Centre banning J&K’s Jamaat-e-Islami under UAPA is highly significant

Banning the Jammu and Kashmir chapter of the Jamaat-e-Islami under the UAPA in the wake of rising tensions between India and Pakistan shows what the Centre can do to curb subversive activities in the Valley. But this move was in fact long pending.

The group, operating under the camouflage of a socio-political organisation, was banned in 1975 during Emergency. It was again banned by the VP Singh government in 1990. In 1993, the ban was lifted by the PV Narasimha Rao-led Congress government.

It was only after the Pulwama attack, in which over 40 CRPF soldiers were killed, that a crackdown was launched on the leaders of this militant outfit — and it has now been banned.

Now, Jamaat has deep roots in Pakistan; one wing of it is a political party on the other side of the border. The organisation has a well-documented history. Aiming at developing “an ideology based on the modern revolutionary conception of Islam”, it was founded in 1942 in British India, along with the Muslim Brotherhood (founded in Egypt).

Following Partition, the group branched out in various places across Afghanistan, Bangladesh, South Africa, Mauritius and the UK, and most of these branches found an identity of their own.

After the independence of Bangladesh in 1971, Bangladesh banned the Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan as it had collaborated with the Pakistan army. But it got a new lease of life under the name of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, which later joined mainstream politics in the country.

Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan is a political party there, presently headed by Siraj Ul Haq (Ameer), who is also a member of the Pakistan Senate. His speech in the National Assembly on the recent tension enthralled Pakistani media and audiences. 

In India, Jamaat had a separate political journey altogether.

In 1971, it participated in the General Elections but didn’t win any seat. In 1977, it won one seat. It has an altogether separate Kerala chapter as well. In 1987, the Muslim United Front, a ‘polyglot coalition’, was set up to contest Assembly elections, and Jamaat was apparently one of the key players behind MUF. 

Now, according to various reports, one of the MUF leaders reportedly was Mohammad Yousuf Shah, who later joined the Hizbul Mujahideen — and is now known as Syed Salahuddin. This links Jamaat to militancy though many in the Valley for the longest time believed that Jamaat did not believe in armed rebellion.

Given all this, what is uncertain is whether this ban will stop Jamaat from carrying out its activities under any other name.

There are multiple clear precedents of how these terror groups resurface after a few years, if not months, of hibernation.   

Al-Badr, officially known as the terror wing of Jamaat, has already threatened to gather people at Dir main chowk (Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa) from where they would send terrorists to Kashmir. A video has been doing the rounds on social media from the very day Jamaat was banned in Kashmir.

The terrorist wing of Jama'at Islami named Al-Badar announcing openly, that tomorrow on 2pm they will gethered on Dir main chowk to send thier terrorists to KashmirAl-Badar terrorist group has made Dir there center, from where they r sending thier ppl to Kashmir and Afghanistan pic.twitter.com/nnr9j0QcXo

— Azad Pakhtoon Qabayel ازاد پختون قبائل (@AzadQabayel) February 28, 2019

This Al-Badr, which is now threatening us through video messages, was banned in India in 2002.

Clearly, the move is significant but not adequate — it is just the beginning of a series of punitive measures required now.

Also Read: 3 questions we want to ask Pakistan now