3 min readSrinagarAug 12, 2021 09:58 AM IST
First published on: Aug 12, 2021 at 09:55 AM IST
Distancing itself from the “terror-financing allegations” over which dozens of its premises in Jammu and Kashmir were raided by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) last week, the three former chiefs of Jamaat-e-Islami have said that the organisation “has no direct or tacit link with any militant group”.
This is the first time that the Jamaat has issued a statement since being banned in February 2019.
“Jamaat has time and again made it quite clear that it had no direct or tacit touch or link with any militant group and all such allegations against Jamaat were false… Jamaat never believed in agitational politics and had never employed any such methods which might cause any least disturbance in the law-and-order situation or any kind of strife on the earth,” the press statement issued jointly by Sheikh Ghilam Hassan, Ghulam Mohammad Bhat and Mohammad Abdullah Wani read.
It added, “Jamaat always employed propagatory methods, verbal as well as written, to carry forward its mission, programmes and policies which were beneficial for the entire human society. But despite this fact, it was banned and declared as an ‘unlawful association’ a number of times without any rhyme or reason, levelling such allegations which had no basis but were all against the facts, in total ignorance of the real situation.”
The statement further said that the “public services of the organisation were ignored” while banning the outfit on some “flimsy and concocted allegations”.
Making a reference to the 1998 press conference of the then Jamaat chief Ghulam Mohammad Bhat where he had categorically distanced the organisation from any militant organisation, the statement said that Jamat is a “peaceful, democratic and transparent” organisation.
“Jamat was made for propagating Islamic teachings among the public in its pristine form and for the social services of the humanity without any discrimination,” the statement said, while adding, “(Jamat was made) in particular to provide material assistance to the economically and educationally downtrodden section of the general public from its lawfully created resources.”
Distancing Jamat from separatist politics, the three former Chiefs have said that the organisation is not a constituent of the separatist conglomerate Hurriyat Conference for a long time.
“Jamaat had dissociated from the Hurriyat Conference (both factions) in 2008 and as such doesn’t remain a unit of any of these factions therefrom. It is hereby further cleared that Jamaat was neither a creation of any political issue nor had so far created such an issue. If there was any such public political issue, Jamaat too was affected only because of being a part of the public at large.” The statement read.
The three former Chiefs also called for the lifting of the ban. “It is hoped that the ban on it will be lifted forthwith thereby allowing this human-friendly socio-religious organisation to work freely for the cause of humanity,” the statement added.
About a dozen of Jamaat's premises in Jammu and Kashmir were raided by the NIA last week. (Representational Photo) 
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