NEW DELHI: The Centre on Sunday designated the Tehreek-e-Hurriyat (TeH), Jammu and Kashmir, a separatist outfit founded in 2004 by the late, pro-Pakistan Hurriyat ‘hawk’ Syed Ali Shah Geelani, as an ‘unlawful association’ for a five-year period under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), 1967.
Home minister Amit Shah said TeH was involved in “forbidden activities to separate J&K from India and establish Islamic rule in the Union Territory”. “The group is found spreading anti-India propaganda and continuing terror activities to fuel secessionism in J&K,” he posted on X.
Shah warned that “any individual or organisation found involved in anti-India activities will be thwarted forthwith” as part of the Narendra Modi government’s zero-tolerance policy against terrorism. Since 2019, 55 individuals have been proscribed as ‘terrorists’ and ‘unlawful association’ tag imposed or renewed against 17 organisations including Popular Front of India (PFI), Sikhs For Justice (SFJ), Jamaat-e-Islami Jammu & Kashmir and J&K Democratic Freedom Party.
The ban on TeH – currently led by incarcerated organiser of the stone-pelting protests of 2010 Masarat Alam Bhat – comes days after another group led by him, the J&K Muslim League, was labelled an ‘unlawful association’ under UAPA.
This story was originally published in timesofindia.indiatimes.com. Read the full story here .