The Jammu & Kashmir administration is considering the release of “ailing and aged” Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) members on surety bonds, a day after the its schools, mosques and orphanages were spared of any seizure.
A top police official told The Hindu that “a number of cases of those who are ailing and aged are being considered for release against a surety bond. A list is being prepared for consideration on health grounds.”
Over 300 JeI members, including senior cadre above the age of 70-years-old, were rounded up after the JeI was banned for five years under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act on February 28 in a decision moved by the Union Cabinet.
Most of the JeI cadre arrested have no FIRs pending in any militancy-related cases in Kashmir, according to a police report on the charges levelled against them.
J&K government spokesperson Rohit Kansal on Sunday evening said that “action was being taken only against the offices, assets, properties and other equipment of the banned organisation, and not schools."
Contesting the government claims, the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industries, a traders body, alleged that “the authorities have already arrested teachers, students in the drive and those who run orphanages. The mosques have been kept open but those leading the prayers were put behind the bars,” said their spokesperson.
Meanwhile, Private Schools Association of Jammu and Kashmir (PSAJK) has welcomed the government decision to keep JeI’s educational institutes outside the ambit of sealing. “The decision will save career of around one lakh students. The State was at the brink of an educational disaster after the reports of sealing of educational institutes run by JeI’s Falah-e-Aam Trust,” said G.N. Var, chairman of the PSAJKJ.
Kashmir Economic Alliance, another traders’ body, has called for a shutdown on Tuesday against the ban, and attempts to tamper with Article 35A.
