The Foreign Office (FO) strongly criticized India’s recent choice to label Tehreek-e-Hurriyat Jammu and Kashmir (TeH) as a “lawless group” for five years. On December 31, India’s Home Ministry of Home Affairs made a change using Section 3 from the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. This act is used to fight against terrorism. Amit Shah, the Home Affairs Minister said that TeH tried to split Jammu and Kashmir from India. They supported Islamic rule, spread lies against India, and carried out terror attacks to promote separation.
This is after Indian officials called the Muslim League Jammu Kashmir (Masarat Alam faction), or MLK-MA, an “illegal group.” They banned their activities. The FO, in a statement that was released later, pointed out that TeH became the second Kashmiri party to be banned under UAPA within one week. This now makes six total banned political parties from Kashmir.
The FO said that TeH was started by a late Kashmir leader, Syed Ali Shah Geelani. He died in 2021 after being under home arrest for a long time. The Freedom Fighters complained about Geelani’s body being forcefully taken by the occupying forces and his family members not allowed to say goodbye at his funeral.
The foreign office said that banning political parties in India is part of its campaign to stop people from having different views. This violates rules about democracy, human rights laws and the rules meant to protect all people when there is a war or conflict.
The FO asked India to quickly end the ban and respect Kashmiri people’s basic rights. It asked for the freeing of all political prisoners and urged India to follow UN Security Council decisions about the issue in occupied Kashmir carefully.
