A tribunal dealing with matters under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) on September 12 upheld the Union Home Ministry's ban on the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) as an unlawful association for another five years.

On March 15, 2024, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) extended the ban on JKLF, which is is led by Yasin Malik, who is currently imprisoned on terror charges.

"Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (Mohd. Yasin Malik faction) (hereinafter referred to as the JKLF-Y) has been indulging in activities, which are prejudicial to security and public order and have the potential of disrupting the unity and integrity of the country," stated MHA notification released in March.

The UAPA tribunal presided by the Delhi High Court judge Justice Neena Bansal Krishna has upheld this decision, observing that there is no room for associations that openly promote secessionism.

"In the framework of the Indian Constitution and the UA(P)A, there is no space for an association like the JKLF-Y which openly propagates secessionism, avowedly express dis-allegiance to the Constitution of India and undermines the territorial integrity and sovereignty of India," the UAPA tribunal order said.

It added that the activities of the JKLF-Y had a toxic effect on maintenance of law and order in Jammu and Kashmir over the last several decades.

"The measure of stability that has come about after 2019 (as is evident from the reduced number of unconducive incidents) cannot be allowed to be jeopardized on account of continuing unlawful activities of JKLF-Y," the order stated.

On August 3, 2024, Yasin Malik (currently in Tihar Jail) presented his submissions via video conferencing before the tribunal, opposing the ban on JKLF–Y.

He argued that post his release in 1994, he had adopted a non-violent and Gandhian way of resisting the government machinery. Since then, he had been an ardent and vocal proponent of a non-violent mode of struggle even at the cost of peril to his life due to death threats extended by other armed separatists, he said.

The tribunal, however, was not convinced by this stance.

"Even though Md. Yasin Malik repeatedly claimed during the course of proceedings that he had given up armed resistance and was following a Gandhian mode of struggle to achieve their professed aim since 1994, his proclivity to continue to engage with violent means and with entities/persons who are avowedly committed to violent means are too stark to be ignored. He has not only been engaging with wanted terrorists but has even admitted to having visited a terrorist camp in POK where he has been felicitated as well," it observed.

Addressing his alleged involvement in the unrest that followed the death of terrorist Burhan Wani in Kashmir, Yasin Malik had also emphasized that there was no possibility of his participation in such protests or stone-pelting incidents, as he had been arrested on the same day that Wani was killed by security forces.

Malik added that the Union of India has failed to cite a single instance where activists of JKLF–Y were involved in any subversive or unlawful activities after the ban was first imposed in 2019, making it unjustifiable to extend the ban for another five years.

However, the UAPA tribunal noted that the documents submitted by the Central Government in a sealed cover contained intelligence reports, secret information from investigating and intelligence agencies, and details on the clandestine activities of the association and its office-bearers, including their links with organizations and individuals outside India.

"On the basis of the material placed on record and the evidence adduced by the Central Government, this Tribunal finds sufficient cause for declaring the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front – Md. Yasin Malik (‘JKLF-Y’) as an unlawful association," the tribunal concluded.

Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati along with Advocates Amit Prasad, Rajat Nair, Poornima Singh, Manisha Chava and Abhijeet Singh appeared for the Union of India.

Advocates Parth Awasthi and Deepika Gupta appeared for the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

[Read Order]