The Jamaat-e-lslami Jammu and Kashmir, which was banned by the government recently, has established links with Pakistan’s ISI and has been maintaining regular contact with the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi for promoting secessionism in the state, officials said on Saturday.
“The most important member of the JeI J&K in theHurriyat Conference is Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who was at one point of timedesignated as the ‘Amir-e-Jihad’ of Jammu and Kashmir by the proscribedorganisation. The JeI (J&K) has established strong links with Pakistan’sISI for ensuring
logistics support for arming, training and supply of weaponsto Kashmiri youths and its leaders continue to maintain regular contact withthe Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi for support,” a senior governmentofficial said.
“According to the intelligence inputs, the Jel (J&K) hasbeen using its network of schools to spread anti-India feelings among childrenin the Kashmir Valley and encouraging cadres of the Jel (J&K) youth wing(Jamiat-ul-Tulba) to join ‘Jihad’ by getting recruited into terrorist outfits.It is no surprise that the pattern of militancy in the Valley has a strong correlationwith the spread of the hardline Jel (J&K) activists in the area,” theofficial said.
“The Jel (J&K) has been utilising the fear generated byPakistan-based Hizbul Mujahideen and leveraging the financial clouts of itsmembers and trusts under its control to mobilise funds both locally and fromabroad and using these assets to consolidate its hold at the grassroot level.This base is used to provide a fertile ground for the operation of militantsoutfits in the Kashmir Valley including motivation, new recruits, shelters andhideouts, couriers etc,” the official said.
“The hardliner elements in Jel have been at the forefront ofsecessionist activities and were the brain behind the formation of the AllParty Hurriyat Conference (APHC) as well as Hizbul Mujahideen,” anotherofficial said.
“The JeI (J&K) also has several trusts for runningschools to disseminate orthodox Islamic education, has a youth wing and hasnumerous publications for spreading its fundamentalist ideology. Behind thisfacade, hardliners within the JeI (J&K) have been involved with militantgroups, have actively participated in promotion of secessionist activities,have been questioning the finality of the Jammu and Kashmir’s accession toIndia and have been striving for merger of the state with Pakistan”, theofficial said.
“The group has extensive foreign links through which itsecures funding and promotes its objectives. It has close links withJel-Pakistan, Jel-POK and Jel-Bangladesh, where several leaders have faceddeath penalty for anti-national activities. It has also been promotingsectarian tensions in the Valley by mobilizing opinion against theHanfi-Aithkadi sects. Gilani, the JeI (J&K) representative in the Hurriyat,has been continuously supporting militancy in Kashmir and even during theKargil War, he had termed the intruders as freedom fighters,” the officialsaid.
“The outfit was banned twice in the past due to itsactivities. The first time in 1975 for two years by the Jammu and Kashmirgovernment and the second time in April 1990 for three years by the Centre,when Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was the Union home minister. The ban continued tillDecember, 1993,” the official said.