Govt bans pro-Pak secessionist JKDFP of Shabir Shah

Shah was actively involved in the activities of fuelling unrest in the Kashmir valley by way of stone pelting, processions, protests, bandhs, hartals.

| Updated: 06 October, 2023 10:31 am IST
Shabir Ahmad Shah founded JKDFP in 1998. It considers Kashmir as a ‘disputed’ region and rules out any settlement within the framework of the constitution of India.

NEW DELHI: The Central government on Thursday banned jailed secessionist Shabir Shah-led Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party (JKDFP) for promoting separatism and terrorist acts in India.

In a notification, the ministry of home affairs (MHA) declared the JKDFP as an ‘Unlawful Association’ under Section 3(1) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), 1967.

The ministry said that the JKDFP has been at the forefront of secessionist activities in Jammu and Kashmir and wants to create a separate Islamic State.

It said that the JKDFP’s leaders and members have been involved in raising funds from various sources, including Pakistan and its proxy organizations, to support terrorist activities and sustained stone-pelting on security forces.

The JKDFP and its members have shown sheer disrespect towards the constitutional authority and constitutional set up of the country, it said, adding that Shah has been indulging in unlawful activities prejudicial to the integrity, sovereignty, security and communal harmony of the country and there have been a number of inputs showing linkages of the JKDFP with banned terrorist organizations.

The MHA said that immediate and prompt action is required against the JKDFP to prevent it from continuing with its anti-national activities.

Shah was first arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on July 25, 2017, in a 2005 money laundering case against Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba co-founder Hafiz Muhammad Saeed and others. He is currently lodged in a Delhi jail.

The NIA has also named Shah in a terror-funding case.

During the course of ED investigation, it was revealed that Shah was actively involved in the activities of fuelling unrest in the Kashmir valley by way of stone pelting, processions, protests, bandhs, hartals and other subversive activities.

Investigators said that Shah had received funds from Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) and other terrorist outfits based in Pakistan as well as from the Pakistani establishment through hawala and various other means and channels.

In September 2017, the ED had charge-sheeted Shah in a terror funding case and three years later in September 2020, a supplementary charge sheet was filed against his wife, Bilquies Shah for her involvement in money laundering.

In November last year, the agency also attached an immovable property worth Rs 21.80 lakh in his name located in Srinagar’s Botshah Colony.

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