Ready to contest J&K elections if Centre lifts ban, says senior Jamaat leader

A press release on social media purportedly from “the spokesman of Jamaat-e-Islami”, said the statements of Wani, a leader from Pulwama, were his personal opinion. About Wani’s claims of the JeI holding talks with the Centre, the “spokesman” said they had formed a panel “to run organisational affairs”, and that its members had met the Centre through another political outfit.

Wani, who voted on May 13 for the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat election, held a brief interaction with select mediapersons on Wednesday after the press release came out, where he repeated that the JeI had never believed in boycott politics, and stayed away from polling earlier because others did.

“If the ban on us is lifted, we can participate (in the elections) and we will participate,” Wani said. “We are in talks with the Centre. Our appeal to our members is that they should cast their vote and cast it without any fear.”

Calling the press release a work of “some miscreant”, Wani added: “Elections are in progress, we have participated in them. We told our members and those associated with us that casting of vote means to strengthen democracy… Democracy is important, it will solve issues. Voting will make a change, decent people will come forward and society will improve”.

Reacting to Wani’s remarks, National Conference (NC) leader Omar Abdullah said the Centre should follow through and revoke the ban on the JeI to enable it to participate in the Assembly elections when they happen in J&K, PTI reported. “It is a good thing… We want them to participate in the elections and their symbol on the voting machine,” Omar told reporters after an election rally in Tangmarg area of Baramulla.

A socio-religious party, the Jamaat-e-Islami Jammu Kashmir, the only cadre-based party in the Valley after the NC, was formed before Partition and is distinct from the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind.

Before 1990, it participated in several elections, with its leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani elected to the Assembly thrice. After the inception of militancy, the JeI became a part of the Hurriyat Conference, and dissociated from electoral politics, calling Kashmir a disputed territory between India and Pakistan.

In the following years, the Valley’s largest militant organisation, Hizbul Mujahideen, claimed to be the military wing of the JeI, with several leaders common to the two. However, in 1997, after Ghulam Mohammad Bhat was elected as the JeI chief, he publicly dissociated the outfit from militancy. This led to a split in the organisation, with Geelani forming his own party, the Tehreek-e-Hurriyat, drawing most of its cadres from the JeI.