In the first show of force in Jammu and Kashmir since 1987, the outlawed Jamaat-e-Islami held an election rally for the first time on Sunday.
As the Jamaat stands proscribed, it has indirectly fielded candidates by putting its weight behind a bunch of independent candidates.
The Jamaat on Sunday held a rally at Bogam village in South Kashmir’s Kulgam. Even though the Jamaat-backed candidates had been carrying out a door-to-door campaign, the rally was a major step up for the group. The footage from the site shows several hundreds of people in attendance.
The Jamaat remains banned under the anti-terrorism law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). In 2019, the Narendra Modi government banned the JeI for five years for being “in close touch” with terrorist groups and over expectations it would “escalate secessionist movement” in J&K. The ban was renewed for another five years in 2024.
The Jamaat has long been associated with terrorism and separatism in J&K. In the 1990s, it was considered as the patron of the Pakistan-backed terrorist group Hizbul Mujahideen. Top separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who headed the separatist movement for several years, was also associated with Jamaat.
Jamaat eyes at electoral comeback
In the first phase of the J&K elections on September 18, the Jamaat has indirectly fielded at least four candidates, according to The Indian Express.
The four candidates are former members Dr Talat Majeed, Sayar Ahmad Reshi, Nazir Ahmad, and Ajaz Ahmad Mir.
Reshi is in contest with the communist heavyweight MY Tarigami, who has been fielded by the J&K National Conference (NC)-Congress bloc.
At the rally in Bogam, Reshi said that the J&K had a vacuum that needs to be filled, as per The Express.
Reshi said that even though fingers will be pointed at them, the JeI drew its support from the “sea of people”.
Keeping the options for post-poll ties open, Reshi said the JeI candidates will support any party which will work for J&K, but added they will call out suppression.
“We will support any party that would work to restore the dignity of the people…We will support the Constitution of India. But if there is suppression, we will call it suppression. We will also plead for peace and tranquillity,” said Reshi, as per the newspaper.
Mir, who is contesting with Jamaat’s backing after being denied a ticket by J&K People’s Democratic Party (PDP), said they will represent the “aspirations of the people” in the assembly.
“We will not promote corruption and work transparently. We will talk about Kashmir and Kashmiris. We will represent the aspirations of the people in the Assembly,” said Mir, as per the newspaper.
Can Jamaat shed its terrorist associations of past?
Even as Jamaat looks forward to enter electoral politics, the question remains whether it has moved past its terrorist associations.
The Jamaat was considered to be the patron of Hizbul Muhajideen and the organisation itself called it the armed wing of Jamaat. It was not until 1997 that Jamaat issued a formal declaration that it had no armed wing.
The Jamaat was part of the All Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC), a group of separatist parties and leaders formed in 1993 in Kashmir. Syed Ali Shah Geelani, the top separatist leader of Kashmir who called for Kashmir’s accession to Pakistan, was also with Jamaat till 2003.
In his book ‘India, Pakistan And The Secret Jihad’, Praveen Swami noted that Jamaat was the patron of Hizbul Mujahideen, the largest terrorist group in J&K at the time.
“With its formidable network of cadre across Jammu and Kashmir, however, the Jamaat-e-Islami soon became the patron of the largest jihadist group, the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen. A plethora of other groups emerged, most of them, like the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, with expressly Islamist sympathies and committed not to the independence of Jammu and Kashmir, but its accession to Pakistan,” noted Swami.
Even as Jamaat pursued terrorism, it also once participated in politics. In the contested 1987 elections, the Jamaat participated under the banner of the Muslim United Front (MUF).
Despite decades of terrorist association, Jamaat is now participating in elections — and also reaching out to the government.
The Deccan Herald reported that some Jamaat leaders released from jails in recent months are negotiating with the central government for the lifting of the ban.
The J&K is holding assembly elections after nearly 10 years. The voting will be held in three phases on Sept. 18, 25, and October 1. The counting of votes will be held on October 8.
Assembly elections were last held in J&K in late 2014. After weeks of results, the J&K PDP and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) formed a coalition government in March 2015 with Mufti Mohammad Sayeed as Chief Minister of J&K. Following his death, his daughter Mehbooba Mufti became the CM and ran the government until June 2018 when the BJP quit the coalition and Mehbooba resigned as her government collapsed. This led to the imposition of governor’s rule in the state.
In November 2018, the then-J&K Governor Satya Pal Malik dissolved the assembly. Then, in August 2019, the Modi government abrogated Article 370 and bifurcated J&K into two union territories of J&K and Ladakh. The 2024 J&K elections are the first assembly elections in the post-Article 370 era.
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