Srinagar: SIA Kashmir conducted searches at multiple locations owned and used by Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) and its affiliates across Kashmir on Tuesday.
A statement of SIA issued here said that the SIA of J&K Police searched several schools affiliated with Falah-e-Aam Trust (FAT), an affiliate of proscribed JeI.
It said that armed with search warrants issued by the Court of Special Judge designated under NIA (TADA and POTA), Srinagar the premises of FAT offices at Salamatabad, Sopore, Nowgam Chowk, Srinagar, Bus Stand, Anantnag, and Main Bazar, Kulgam that were used by JeI and FAT were searched in connection with the investigation of case FIR No 17/2019 under Sections 10, 11, and 13 of the UA(P) Act.
The statement said that FAT in the past had been proscribed by the government, after which several litigations came to be lodged by JeI management seeking immunity against legal action.
It said that during quasi-judicial proceedings preceding the ban on JeI, evidence had come on record that one of the major methods of propagating its secessionist agenda had been to maintain control over a parallel school system.
The SIA statement said that besides creating such properties by encroaching government or community land, FAT, as per the reports has used its connections with Hizb to regularise such encroachments.
“It is a matter of investigation as to how many known JeI members are represented in the management and teaching faculty of these schools. It is also to be investigated how many members of the management of the trust are known to be former office bearers of JeI. The public interest aspect of the investigation lies in the fact that in several stages of the 30-year-old secessionist and terrorist campaign, Hizb had burnt down several government schools across the length and breadth of Kashmir. The correlation between destroying government facilities on one hand and creating parallel private facilities where co-curricular and extracurricular programmes can be leveraged to influence young minds that are inherently in support of a long-term secessionist campaign and not always necessarily by picking up arms is also a matter of investigation,” the statement said.
It said that during searches, incriminating material including laptops, cash books, cheque books, and land documents having a bearing on the investigation of the case was recovered and seized.
The statement said that the analysis of the data would follow and leads that would emerge would become the basis for further investigation.