New Delhi: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has declared two moderate Hurriyat factions, Jammu and Kashmir Ittihadul Muslimeen (JKIM) and Awami Action Committee (AAC), as “unlawful associations” for five years under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, in a major crackdown on political and religious outfits in J&K.
The ban came when many had been looking forward to increased engagements between the moderate separatist voices in J&K and the Centre after Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq’s latest political meetings in New Delhi.
Potentially a key figure in reconciliatory dialogues, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq is also the head of the Awami Action Committee. Another Hurriyat Conference chairman and Shia cleric Mohammad Abbas Ansari leads Ittihadul Muslimeen.
Announcing the ban in an X post Tuesday, Home Minister Amit Shah wrote that JKIM and AAC had been inciting people to disrupt law and order, putting “the unity and integrity of Bharat” at risk. “Anyone found involved in activities against the nation’s peace, order, and sovereignty is bound to face the crushing blow of the Modi govt,” he said.
The MHA decision, now facing sharp criticism from different political parties and the civil society, has come amid the Centre’s normalisation claims since 2019, when it revoked J&K’s special status via the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution.
The move follows the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Union government’s bans on Jamaat-e-Islami, Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front, Muslim League, Democratic Freedom Party and Dukhtaran-e-Millat in what now looks like a larger crackdown on J&K’s separatist movement.
In its official notification, the MHA accused the AAC and JKIM members of “promoting and aiding the secession of Jammu and Kashmir from India by indulging in anti-national and subversive activities, such as sowing seeds of discontent among the people; inciting people to destabilise law and order; supporting terrorism and promoting hatred against the established government”.
Speaking to ThePrint, Kashmiri political scientist Noor Baba, however, described the ban as “a reversal of the earlier claims of improved freedoms in Kashmir”. “Banning even moderate voices is not characteristic of a free and liberal society; it contradicts the very spirit of democracy,” he said. Such bans, he added, will not help bring moderate forces into mainstream politics.
Speaking to reporters in Gulmarg, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said the Centre had not informed the state government about the ban on AAC.
“I do not know the basis of the ban. This is not under the purview of the elected government (in J&K), and the intelligence based on which it has taken place has not been shared with us … On principle, we have never favoured such decisions,” said Abdullah.
The CM added that since Mirwaiz Umar Farooq’s release from house arrest, he had made no “objectionable” statements.
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq condemned the ban on X, saying AAC “has unwaveringly stood by the people of J&K, advocating their aspirations and rights through completely non-violent and democratic methods and calling for peaceful resolution of the Kashmir conflict through dialogue and deliberation, for which its members suffered jails and incarceration and even martyrdom.”
Calling the move a part of the continuation of the policy of “intimidation and disempowerment that is being followed vis-à-vis J&K since August 2019”, Mirwaiz Farooq further wrote, “The voice of truth may be suppressed through force but will not be silenced.”
Also Read: Kashmiri Pandits welcome Mirwaiz-led interfaith panel, but sceptical about ‘closed door meetings’
Reactions to the ban
Noor Baba said Mirwaiz Farooq has, of late, been primarily focusing on social issues, upholding the AAC’s traditional role.
“The Awami Action Committee has historically been a moderate outfit in Kashmir. It also has suffered for that moderation. Mirwaiz’s father, Moulvi Farooq, was assassinated precisely because of his balanced stance as a religious and political figure in Kashmiri society.”
He said the logic behind the ban “seems weak”, indicating the Centre’s “lack of confidence” in its ability to normalise the climate in J&K post-2019.
“If Kashmir is truly becoming part of the larger Indian mainstream, why undermine, rather than encourage, such organisations to engage in the political process? This ban reflects a deep-seated uncertainty about the actual situation in Kashmir,” he said.
People’s Democratic Party leader and Pulwama MLA Waheed Para told ThePrint that using UAPA against political organisations that seek dialogue and reconciliation is “unjust”.
“Our fight is for space and ending silence. Post-abrogation, Kashmiris lost their agency, and attempts are underway to silence us. We reject such bans, demand the right to free speech, and call for the revocation of these restrictions,” he added.
Former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti strongly condemned the ban, stating that suppressing dissent would only deepen tensions rather than resolve them.
“The J&K government must intervene to stop such actions. Democracy is about more than elections—it’s about protecting citizens’ fundamental rights,” she emphasised.
While “silencing Kashmir’s voices may serve BJP’s political agenda, it undermines the very Constitution that safeguards these rights,” she said. “The central government must reassess its approach and move away from heavy-handed tactics.”
In his on X post, National Conference leader and Khanyar MLA Ali Mohammad Sagar opposed the ban, asserting that the Mirwaiz family has been a torch-bearer of peace and communal harmony, helping J&K retain its secular credentials.
“Such measures do not bring any good to the situation in J&K; GOI must follow the path of reconciliation rather than alienation. Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has always been a keen facilitator for peace; he and others like him must be made stakeholders of peace rather than victims of an Iron fist policy,” he wrote further.
Noor Baba, calling out another ban the Centre has put in place, further said, “Even banning literature seems futile in modern times.”
The Union government has banned 668 books for allegedly promoting the ideology of the banned Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) in the Kashmir Valley. Most of the books banned were by Abul A’la Maududi, a prominent 20th-century Islamic scholar and founder of the banned JeI.
“Most of the restricted material is available online, and only a few people in Kashmir were even reading them. Those who are interested can still access them digitally. In reality, such bans achieve little,” he said.
Also Read: Delhi to Srinagar train ride is now a reality. It will bring tourists, trade & jobs to J&K
Background of JKIM & AAC
The ban curtails the political engagements of Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, whose father, Mirwaiz Mohammad Farooq, founded the AAC. The organisation has been among Srinagar’s most influential political and religious groups, traditionally opposing the National Conference.
AAC was founded in 1964 at the peak of the ‘moi muqadas’ agitation over the disappearance of the Prophet’s relic from the Hazratbal Shrine in Srinagar. It quickly turned into a strong voice in Kashmir. Mirwaiz Mohammad Farooq was assassinated in 1990 by terrorists, and his son, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, took over both the religious and political leadership of AAC at the age of 17.
In 1992, AAC became a founding member of the Hurriyat Conference, a separatist alliance that sought a peaceful resolution to the Kashmir dispute through dialogue.
Similarly, JKIM, founded by Ansari in 1962, has played a significant role in Shia politics in Kashmir. Ansari completed his studies in Lucknow and Iraq’s Najaf and established JKIM to foster “unity among different sects of Muslims” in Jammu and Kashmir.
In 1987, JKIM became part of a larger political movement, leading to the founding of the Muslim United Front, a coalition of socio-political and religious groups that contested the 1987 Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections against the National Conference-Congress alliance. Later, JKIM became a founding member of the Hurriyat Conference in 1993.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
Also Read: Emergency procurement okayed for counter-terrorism ops, 80% terrorists in J&K Pakistani, says Army chief
