Kulgam, 24 February — A breakaway faction of Jamaat-e-Islami Jammu and Kashmir (JeI) has announced the formation of a political party, the Justice and Development Front (JDF), during a public convention in south Kashmir’s Kulgam on Sunday but has yet to secure registration from the Election Commission of India (ECI).
Shamim Ahmad Thoker, a teacher and the election in-charge of the faction, said JDF will address everyday concerns of Kashmiris through democratic means.
“This is the beginning of a peaceful and political revolution, and a better Kashmir. We are the well-wishers of the people. We don’t have enmity with anyone. We request the government to lift the ban on Jamaat,” he said.
Thoker said the group plans to formally launch JDF in Srinagar once it receives clearance from the ECI.
Thoker is expected to become the party’s first president, while Abdul Rehman Shala, who lost his security deposit in the
Baramulla assembly election, is likely to be named vice-president.
Sayyar Ahmad Reshi, who secured 34.4% of the votes in Kulgam will assume the role of general secretary.
The JeI was banned in 2019 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) following the Pulwama suicide bombing, with the government of India extending the ban for another five years in 2024
Last year, an eight-member panel of former JeI members engaged in discussions with the Union government seeking to lift the ban. However, incarcerated JeI chief Fayaz Ahmad Wani distanced the organization from their actions, calling them “individual activities.”
Moreover, Jammu and Kashmir police recently seized more than 650 books linked to Jamaat-e-Islami from bookstores in Srinagar, most of them authored by Abul A’la Maududi, the 20th-century Islamic scholar who founded the organisation.