J&K: Crackdown on separatists in decisive phase, Jamaat properties seized, offices closed
For three decades, the Kashmiri separatists have owned lavish bungalows and offices inside and outside Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistani stooges, who acted as defenders of the neighboring country in Kashmir, used to run a parallel system because political regimes lacked the courage to act against them. They were allowed to get away with everything, even the properties they bought through illegal means.
Srinagar: For three decades, the Kashmiri separatists have owned lavish bungalows and offices inside and outside Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistani stooges, who acted as defenders of the neighboring country in Kashmir, used to run a parallel system because political regimes lacked the courage to act against them. They were allowed to get away with everything, even the properties they bought through illegal means.
However, after the Pulwama terrorist attack in February 2019, which killed 40 members of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), the Center tightened the noose around the separatists and banned Jamaat-e- Islami, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) and other organizations advocating separatism and sedition.
As part of the crackdown on separatists, the Income Tax Department in April 2019 seized a house belonging to the late Hurriyat Conference Chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani in Delhi in connection with a tax case. tax evasion of Rs 3.62 crore against him. The seized property was located in the Malviya Nagar area of South Delhi.
In July 2019, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) seized property belonging to a separatist leader in Kashmir for the first time in 30 years by seizing the house of Asiya Andrabi, self-proclaimed leader of the radical women’s organization Dukhtaran. -e-Millat.
His house located in Soura in the suburbs of Srinagar was seized under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
The NIA, in an indictment against Andrabi, said it was involved in “war” against the country and used social media to spread “insurgent accusations and hateful messages and speech against India”.
His organization engaged in anti-Indian activities and incited the Kashmiri people to an armed rebellion against the Indian government with the help and assistance of Pakistan-based terrorist organizations.
Earlier this month, the Law Enforcement (ED) Directorate tied the home of jailed separatist Shabir Ahmad Shah valued at Rs 21.80 lakh under the anti-money laundering law in a case linked to the financing of terrorist activities.
Located in the settlement of Botshah in the Sanat Nagar region of Srinagar, the property was linked to an ongoing money laundering case, naming Shabir Ahmad Shah and Lashkar-e-Taiba co-founder Hafiz Muhammad Saeed and d others under various sections of the ICC and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. (UAPA), 1967.
During an investigation, the ED said it was revealed that Shah was actively involved in the activities aimed at fueling unrest in Kashmir through stone throwing, processions, demonstrations, bandhs, of hartals and other subversive activities.
Investigations had revealed that Shah was involved in receiving funds from the terrorist organization Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) and other Pakistan-based terrorist groups as well as the Pakistani establishment through hawala and various other means and channels.
These funds were then used to fuel and support terrorist activities in Kashmir.
Strict framed laws
After August 5, 2019, when the Center announced its decision to repeal the special status of J&K and divide it into two union territories, the noose against separatists and supporters of terrorism has tightened even further.
Strict laws have been crafted to pin down supporters of terrorism.
The Jammu and Kashmir Police has launched a campaign to seize the property and vehicles of terrorism supporters under the UAPA. In 2021, J&K police had sanctioned the seizure of 75 vehicles (which mainly included four- and two-wheelers), five houses, six stores, land and cash under the Prevention of Activities Act illegal (UAPA).
9 Sealed Jamaat Properties
Earlier this month, authorities in Shopian district in south Kashmir seized nine properties, including two school buildings and separate land, belonging to the banned Jamaat-e-Islami.
The order issued by the government stipulated that the entry and use of the seized goods by anyone other than SIA investigators and the police for the purpose of investigation was prohibited.
The state investigation agency has identified another 30 Jamaat-e-Islami properties worth millions of dollars in north and south Kashmir and are said to be sealed soon.
The properties that need to be sealed are around Rs 10 crore and law enforcement agencies are preparing to seal them.
The properties of the separatists are sealed off to stifle the availability of funds for secessionist activities and to dismantle the ecosystem of anti-national elements and terrorist networks hostile to the sovereignty of the country.
J&K police have warned people against providing shelter to terrorists or their accomplices.
“Do not harbor or harbor terrorists, associates of terrorism. Legal proceedings will be supplemented by foreclosures in accordance with the law,” he warned.
Major milestone
The seizure of properties belonging to the separatists, the organizations that propagated Pakistan’s agenda, proved to be a major step towards dismantling the widespread terrorist ecosystem in Kashmir.
For 30 years, the old political regimes took no initiative to destroy the terrorist infrastructure in Kashmir. The old dispensations allowed separatists to accumulate wealth disproportionate to their known sources of income.
Organizations like Jamaat, JKLF, Hurriyat and others have even been allowed to set up their offices in different locations in Kashmir.
Corporate enterprises
The separatist organizations functioned as trading companies, which even paid salaries to their henchmen.
After the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led waiver removed Article 370, a temporary provision from the Constitution, in 2019, many decisions were taken to end Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in Kashmir.
Seizing separatist properties and closing their offices is part of the government’s campaign to wipe out symbols of separatism and sedition in the valley.
For the past three years, Kashmir has seen no lockdowns, street protests and rock-throwing incidents as separatist offices where they were scheduled have been closed.
Separatist groups no longer operate as businesses because their funding channels have been blocked. Schools run by the Jamaat and other radical organizations are closed.
Ordinary J&K residents also rejected people who preached separatism and sedition and sold illusions like “Azadi” to run their stores.
An ordinary man from J&K realized that the Separatists were not their sympathizers. They were Pakistan’s agents and they were paid to disrupt people’s normal lives.
Kashmir has bid farewell to separatism and terrorism and embarked on the path of peace, prosperity and development.
