SRINAGAR: The National Investigation Agency on Sunday launched a major crackdown on the banned Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI), with raids at 56 locations in all 10 districts of Kashmir and four in Jammu on premises tied to it in connection with terror funding. The raids were jointly conducted along with the local police and the CRPF.
Premises of the office bearers of the proscribed association, its members and also offices of trusts purportedly run by the JeI were searched. Various incriminating documents and electronic devices were seized, an NIA spokesperson said.
JeI was banned in 2019 for its alleged close links with terror outfits. The Home ministry’s ban order came a fortnight after a suicide attack on a CRPF convoy at Pulwama in February 2019 that left 40 personnel dead.
The NIA said the members of the organisation have been collecting funds domestically and abroad through donations, particularly in the form of Zakat and Mowda (paying a share of individual income for the cause) as also Bait-ul-Mal (donation for poor), purportedly to further charity activities, but were using it for violent and secessionist activities.
The funds raised by the JeI are also being channelised to terrorist organisations such as Hizb-ul-Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Taiba, the NIA said.