With Jamaat banned, faction that contested J&K polls to launch new political front

Shamim Ahmad Thoker, the election in-charge of the Jamaat faction that contested elections, told The Indian Express, “Since the Jamaat is a banned organisation, we have decided to set up a separate political front that will work only in the political arena.”

“Jamaat is a socio-religious political outfit. When the ban is lifted, Jamaat will work on the socio-religious front while the Justice and Development Front will work on the political front,” he said.

Thoker is set to be president of the new political front. Abdul Rehamn Shalla, the Jamaat’s Baramulla candidate who did not get his election deposit back, will be the front’s vice president. The group’s Kulgam candidate, Sayyar Ahmad Reshi, will be the general secretary.

The Jamaat faction, run by an eight-member panel, had been in talks with the Centre about lifting the ban on the organisation. During talks, the Centre had made participation in elections a condition and the panel fielded 10 candidates as Independents in the Assembly polls. However, barring the Kulgam candidate, none of them made a mark.

Thoker said the new front has been set up following deliberations with the leadership at district and tehsil levels.

The front will later be officially announced in Srinagar. However, the leadership structure of the front does not include any of Jamaat’s main leadership.

The Jamaat faction that decided to engage with the Centre and contest elections has attracted serious criticism from the Jamaat cadre and leadership.

While the Jamaat’s last chief, Dr Abdul Hameed Fayaz, is in jail, the former top leadership that is out of jail has been silent on the matter and neither endorsed nor opposed the panel and its decisions.