India declares pro-freedom Kashmiri group 'unlawful’

By Nusrat Sidiq

SRINAGAR, Jammu and Kashmir (AA) - The Indian government has declared a Kashmiri pro-freedom organization, the Muslim League of Jammu and Kashmir, as an "unlawful association,” according to Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday.

Shah said the decision was taken under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (UAPA).

He stated on X, that the organization and its members were "involved in anti-national and secessionist activities" in Jammu and Kashmir "supporting terrorist activities and inciting people to establish Islamic rule" in the region.

The group has been banned for five years under the anti-terror law.

The Muslim League is headed by incarcerated pro-freedom leader Masarat Alam Bhat, who has been in the Tihar jail in New Delhi since 2019 in an alleged terror funding case.

He also acts as the interim chief of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference -- an amalgam of more than two dozen pro-freedom groups in Indian-administered Kashmir, following the death of former leader Syed Ali Geelani in 2021.

In 2019, New Delhi banned the region's largest socio-economic-politico party, Jamaat-i-Islami, as well as the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, which is led by Muhammad Yasin Malik, who is also in the Tihar jail.

New Delhi's latest move comes as Defense Minister Rajnath Singh arrived Wednesday in the region to review the security situation days after four Indian soldiers were killed in a suspected militant ambush in the southern Poonch district.

Following the ambush, three civilians were allegedly killed in army custody. A probe is ongoing into the alleged murder.

Addressing the soldiers, Singh said: “You are the country's protectors. But I want to request that besides ensuring the country's security, you also have the responsibility to win the hearts of the people. There should be no mistake that hurts an Indian.”

- Disputed region

Kashmir, a Muslim-majority Himalayan region, is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed by both in full. A small sliver of Kashmir is held by China.

Since partition in 1947, the two countries have fought three wars -- in 1948, 1965 and 1971. Two concerned Kashmir.

Also, in the Siachen glacier region in northern Kashmir, Indian and Pakistani troops have fought intermittently since 1984. A cease-fire took effect in 2003.

Some Kashmiri groups in Jammu and Kashmir have been fighting Indian rule for independence or unification with neighboring Pakistan.

Thousands have reportedly been killed in the conflict in the region since 1989, according to several human rights organizations.