India bans Yasin Malik's JKLF as Pakistan invites separatists to National Day event

NEW DELHI: The Centre on Friday banned the Yasin Malik-led Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF-Y), alleging that the organisation was behind the “murders of Kashmiri Pandits in 1989 (that) triggered their exodus from the (Kashmir) Valley.”The decision to ban the JKLF-Y under provisions of Section 3(1) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security chaired by PM Narendra Modi.

After the meeting, Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba said the separatist outfit had been banned as the government had a policy of zero tolerance.“The Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front led by Md. Yasin Malik has spearheaded the separatist ideology in the valley and has been at the forefront of separatist activities and violence since 1988. Malik was the mastermind behind the purging of Kashmiri Pandits from the Kashmir Valley and is responsible for their genocide,” Gauba said.

The Centre's move comes after Islamabad invited separatist leaders to Pakistan's National Day event at the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi on 23rd March, which India officially boycotted.

Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba: 37 FIRs have been registered by Jammu and Kashmir Police against JKLF. Two cases including the case of murder IAF personnel were registered by CBI. National Investigation Agency (NIA) has also registered a case which is under investigation. https://t.co/fHVpvQsN4F

— ANI (@ANI) March 22, 2019

Malik is currently in Jammu’s Kot Balwal jail and is facing trial in several cases. The ban, the first for the organization, comes just months before the tenure of the Modi government ends. Gauba said the activities of the JKLF (Y) posed a serious threat to the security of the country and the organization had been actively and continuously encouraging feelings of enmity and hatred against the lawfully-established government.

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Hurriyat Conference leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq decried the ban. “Strongly denounce the ban on JKLF after Jamaat-e-Islami. Such anti-Kashmir tactics will not change the reality of the Kashmir issue nor the urgency to resolve it,” the Mirwaiz tweeted.

The JKLF-Y is the second outfit from Kashmir to be banned in less than a month. On February 28, the government banned the separatist Jamaat-e-Islami Jammu and Kashmir saying the activities of the Jamaat had the potential of disrupting “the unity and integrity of India.” The Jamaat has been banned twice earlier.

(With online desk inputs)