Yasin Malik-led JKLF banned
New Delhi: The Yasin Malik-led Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) was banned by the Centre under anti-terror law on Friday, officials said.
The outfit has been banned for alleged promotion of secessionist activities in Jammu and Kashmir, they said.
They said the organisation has been banned under various provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Its chief Yasin Malik is under arrest and at present lodged in Jammu’s KotBalwal jail.
The decision to ban JKLF under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act was taken on March 22, Friday, which is also the Pakistan Day or Pakistan Resolution Day, in a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) chaired by Prime Minister NarendraModi.
Announcing the decision to ban JKLF, Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba said the group has been active in Jammu and Kashmir since 1988.
“It had taken part in several attacks on Kashmiri Pandits and government agencies including the security forces. The organisation has been named in 37 FIRs and it is being investigated in several cases by Jammu and Kashmir police and the National Investigation Agency,” he said.
Gauba pointed out that JKLF was responsible for the mass exodus of Kashmiri Pandits in 1989 and in the later years. Yasin Malik was the mastermind behind the attacks and mass purge of Kashmiri Pandits from the Kashmir Valley, added Gauba.
Yasin Malik, a former militant who now heads the JKLF was arrested on February 22 in a late night raid, days after the Pulwama attack that claimed the lives of over 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans. He was booked under the Public Safety Act and shifted to Jammu’s KotBalwal jail.
Yasin Malik is an accused in several cases including the killing of four unarmed Indian Air Force officers in January 1990 in Srinagar. The IAF officers were shot dead in Srinagar’s Sannat Nagar on January 25, 1990.
He was also involved in the kidnapping of RubiyaSaeed, daughter of the then Union home minister Mufti Mohammad Saeed in December 1989. The then Central government of Prime Minister VP Singh released five JKLF militants in lieu of Rubiya. Those who were set free included a Pakistani national Sher Khan, Abdul Hamid Sheikh, Noor Mohammad Kalwal, Altaf Ahmed and Javed Ahmed Jargar.
JKLF was founded by Amanullah Khan and MaqboolBhat in United Kingdom’s Birmingham in June 1976 and advocated violent rebellion against India in Jammu and Kashmir. The organisation gave up armed rebellion in 1994 but continued to organise protests against India in the state.
Notably, in February 2019 the Centre had banned the Jamaat-e-Islami Jammu and Kashmir. (PTI)
Press Trust of India
