Banned Jamaat-e-Islami to Launch New Political Front to Contest Elections

After the Jammu and Kashmir-based outfit Jamaat-e-Islami remains banned, a small fraction of the group has decided to launch a new political front. JeI contested the assembly elections in the union territory last year, but the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) extended the ban against the political outfit, under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) 1967, for another five years in February last year. JEI was first declared as an unlawful association in February 2019.

The New Political Front

The new front was unofficially introduced on Sunday at a convention in South Kashmir’s Kulgam, the place where the Jamaat organised its first big political rally in three decades during last year’s assembly election campaign.  This new fraction will be called Justice and Development Front (JDF) and will be officially announced in Srinagar.

“Since the Jamaat is a banned organisation, we have decided to set up a separate political front that will work only in the political arena. Jamaat is a socio-religious political outfit. When the ban is lifted, Jamaat will work on social and religious fronts while the JDF will work on the political front,” said Shamim Ahmad Thoker, the election in charge of the Jamaat fraction that fought assembly polls.

Thoker is set to become the President of the new political front while Abdul Rahman Shalla, the Jamaat’s Baramulla candidate, will become the vice president. The Kulgam candidate of the fraction, Sayar Ahmad Reshi, will become the general secretary.

The new front leadership structure will not include any Jamaat’s main leadership.