J-K: Delhi HC tribunal confirms ban imposed on Jamaat-e-Islami

New Delhi: A Delhi High Court tribunal has validated the ban imposed on Jamaat-e-Islami, Jammu & Kashmir for its alleged involvement in activities that are prejudicial to internal security and public order, having the potential to disrupt the unity and integrity of the country.

A few members of the group, which was banned for five more years in February, had contested the recently concluded assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir. This led to speculation that the ban imposed on Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI), Jammu & Kashmir under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, (UAPA) 1967 might be withdrawn by the government.

While declaring the group outlawed, the home ministry had listed 47 cases registered against it. They included an NIA case for collection of funds and encouragement to violent and secessionist activities.

The funds were also used by the active cadres and members of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, Lashkar-e-Taiba and other terrorist organisations through a well-established network of their cadres to organise violent protests, create public unrest and communal disharmony, thus instilling a sense of fear and insecurity in J&K and all over the country, the home ministry had said.

Another NIA case was registered against the members and cadres of the Jel, including Ameer Mohammed Shamsi, chief executive, Al-Huda Educational Trust (AHET) for receiving funds through AHET, Rajouri, in the name of Jel even after its ban in February, 2019.

AHET was formed by the top leadership of Jel, including accused Ameer Mohammed Shamsi. They were the trustees of AHET.

The home ministry also said the Jel is in close touch with militant outfits and is continuously supporting extremism and militancy in J&K and elsewhere.

According to the home ministry, the Jel J&K is supporting claims for secession of a part of the Indian territory from the Union and is supporting terrorist and separatist groups fighting for this purpose by indulging in activities and articulations intended to disrupt the territorial integrity of India. It is involved in anti-national and subversive activities in the country intended to cause disaffection, it added.

Asad Ullah Mir, one of the alleged members of the JeI J&K, appeared before the tribunal through his counsel and submitted that it is a socio-religious organisation with a written constitution. It is committed to peaceful constitutional means and does not have any links with militant outfits nor it supports extremism in any form, he claimed.

Mir also said the group was set up in 1953 to spread the word of Islam and in doing so it extends its Da’wah (invitation to Islam) to all people without discriminating on the basis of sect, language, colour, race, nation, or country. The constitution of the association has never supported violence, the JeI member submitted.

He said the JeI has always participated in the democratic process. In 1969, it participated in the municipal and panchayat elections and had contested the Lok Sabha elections in 1971 securing more than 1 lakh votes, he added.

In 1972, five members of the association were elected members of the J&K assembly. In 1977, one member of the association was elected to the assembly. In 1983, none from JeI, J&K was elected to the state legislative assembly, although the association contested 20 constituencies, the tribunal has been told.

“In 1987, two members of the JeI, J&K were elected to the assembly and it was first declared unlawful after emergency was imposed in 1975. The chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir at the time, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, got the central government to declare the association as unlawful because it was his only serious rival in the state.

“The declaration of the association as unlawful was lifted with the election of the new government at the centre, after Emergency was lifted,” the group submitted through its counsel.

It also submitted before the tribunal that the group participated in the elections of 1987 and put up 22 candidates.

“However, the elections of 1987 were rigged, resulting in the election of only two members from the association. That the 1987 elections were rigged is common knowledge and has been acknowledged even by former deputy prime minister and home minister, Mr L K Advani, in his autobiography, ‘My Country My Life’, and by several others.

“Most recently, the Union Home Minister, Mr Amit Shah, while moving the amendment bill of the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Act in the Lok Sabha also stated that farcical elections were conducted by the earlier Congress government in Kashmir”,” the group said.

The JeI J&K said it was only after the “wholesale rigging of elections” of 1987 that it decided not to contest elections until there was a guarantee of free and fair elections.

“Although the association has always been opposed to violence, and although Ameer-e-Jama’at Hakeem Ghulam Nabi, expressly condemned violence at several public meetings when the state was in the grip of armed militancy in 1987, a misconception began to build that the association supported militancy.

“This misconception was entirely the creation of persons with vested interest against the association. It was because of this misconception that the association was declared unlawful in March 1990,” it said.

However, the tribunal, consisting of Justice Navin Chawla, Judge, High Court of Delhi, concluded that the tribunal finds that there is ample justification to declare JeI J&K as an unlawful association under Section 3(1) of the UAPA and the central government was justified in taking recourse to the provision of Section 3(3) of the UAPA vide notification dated February 27.

“Thus, the Reference is answered in affirmative and an order under Section 4(3) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 confirming the declaration made in the Notification No.S.O.924(E) dated 27.02.2024, published in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary issued under Section 3(1) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 is hereby passed,” the tribunal said.