Tribunal upholds ban on Shabir Ahmad Shah’s JKDFP

New Delhi, April 15

A tribunal constituted by the Union Home Ministry has confirmed the ban imposed on the Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party (JKDFP), headed by jailed separatist Shabir Ahmad Shah.

The Home Ministry had on October 5, 2023 declared the JKDFP a banned group under the UAPA for five years, for its “anti-India” and “pro-Pakistan” activities.

Subsequently, a tribunal was constituted with Delhi High Court judge Justice Sachin Datta as its head for the purpose of adjudicating whether or not there was sufficient cause for declaring the JKDFP an unlawful association.

In a recent notification, the Home Ministry said the tribunal, in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (3) of section 4 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, passed an order on April 3, 2024, confirming the declaration of JKDFP as an unlawful organisation.

In its order, the tribunal noted that the elaborate material and evidence placed on record before it found that there was ample justification to declare the JKDFP an unlawful association under the UAPA.

It said the activities of the JKDFP has had a deleterious effect on maintenance of law and order in the region of Jammu and Kashmir over the last several decades.

“The modicum of stability that has come about after 2019 (as is evident from the reduced number of unconducive incidents) could not have been allowed to be jeopardised on account of continuing activities of the concerned association,” it observed. Founded in 1998 by Shabir Ahmad Shah, a known separatist leader in Jammu and Kashmir, the JKDFP was a constituent of the separatist amalgam Hurriyat Conference.