NEW DELHI: The Yasin Malik-led faction of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), which was banned Friday, was one of the earliest terror groups in the Valley and was the biggest terror outfit in early ’90s when Kashmiri Pandits were forced to flee Kashmir, sources in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) told this newspaper.
It was also the first terrorist group in Jammu & Kashmir to raise the slogan of ‘azadi’, officials said, adding that the outfit perpetrated heinous crimes by targeting Kashmiri Pandits, government employees and was responsible for killing of politicians and judges and abducting Rubaiya Sayeed, the daughter of the then Home Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.
Officials said JKLF carried out its first full-fledged terror attack on August 1, 1988, when the group used explosives to blast three government buildings, including the Telegraph Office in Srinagar.
On August 17, 1989, JKLF killed Mohammad Yousuf Halwai, a local leader of National Conference in Srinagar, another official said.
The first Hindu to be targeted by JKLF was state BJP vice-president Pandit Tika Lal Taploo. There are about 40 cases against JKLF and its chief Malik.
Valley leaders slam Centre for JKLF ban
Both mainstream and separatist leaders in Kashmir slammed the decision to ban JKLF, with the separatists calling for a shut-down in the Valley on Sunday.
“Yasin Malik renounced violence as a way of resolving J&K issue a long time ago. He was treated as a stakeholder in dialogue initiated by then PM Vajpayee. What will a ban on his organisation achieve?” tweeted PDP president Mehbooba Mufti.