Authorities in Jammu and Kashmir authorities have sealed houses of leaders associated with the Jamaat-e-Islami Jammu and Kashmir, which was banned by the Union government on Thursday for five years, NDTV reported. Several parties in the state have criticised the Centre’s decision to ban the organisation.
The Centre had said that the organisation was declared unlawful for “indulging in activities prejudicial to internal security and public order”.
Jamaat-e-Islami is a socio-religious political organisation active in Jammu and Kashmir. The Kashmir branch broke away from Jamaat-e-Islami Hind and was founded in 1953. Since last week, the Jammu and Kashmir Police has launched a massive crackdown on the leaders of Jamaat by arresting close to 400 of its members.
Meanwhile, Peoples Democratic Party chief and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday described the ban as an act of “vengeance” by the Centre and predicted “dangerous consequences” in the state. Mufti condemned the sealing of houses owned by the organisation’s leaders. “The Jamaat-e-Islami is a social and political organisation,” Mufti said, according to PTI. “It is an ideology and I do not think you can imprison an ideology by arresting some activists of the outfit.”
Mufti said there are double standards on dealing with terror. “You have the Shiv Sena, Jan Sangh, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh who have lynched people on the basis of eating a type of meat, but there was no action,” Mufti said. “However, an organisation which has been helping the poor and running schools has been banned and its activists put in jails. We will not allow this.”
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