Yasin Malik led Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) has been banned under the anti-terror law by the central government. The separatist organization was run by Malik in Jammu and Kashmir.
The decision came in on Friday after a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
#BREAKING | Central government bans Separatist #YasinMalik led Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front. pic.twitter.com/5klNsmePAX
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Yasin Malik’s JKLF was banned for its alleged role in promoting secessionist activities in Jammu and Kashmir. The organization has been banned under various provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act as reported. As per reports, Yasin Malik has been arrested and at present lodged in Jammu’s Kot Balwal jail.
Announcing the decision to ban JKLF, Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba said the terrorist group has been active in Jammu and Kashmir since its inception and more so from 1988. Yasin Malik’s organization has planned attacks on Kashmiri Pandits and government agencies. According to Gauba, he was the mastermind of the attacks on Pandits leading to their exodus from the valley 1989-1990.
JKLF has been named in 37 FIRs and is being investigated in several cases by Jammu and Kashmir police and the National Investigation Agency.
Yasin Malik has been a prominent separatist leader and a former terrorist has been accused to promote separatist ideology and terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.
He has also been accused in prominent cases including the killing of four unarmed Indian Air Force officers in January 1990 in Srinagar. The IAF officers were shot dead in Srinagar. He was also the mastermind in the kidnapping of Rubiya Saeed, the daughter of the Union Home Minister Mufti Mohammad Saeed in December 1989. The then PM VP Singh was forced to release five JKLF terrorists due to the kidnapping.
The Centre had earlier banned the Jamaat-e-Islami Jammu and Kashmir earlier this month. The government has been doing a crackdown on separatist leaders and stripping them off benefits and banning organizations since the Pulwama attack.