Jehangir Ali 
Srinagar: With an eye on the upcoming local body elections, a breakaway faction of Jamaat-e-Islami Jammu and Kashmir (JeI) has approached the Election Commission of India (EC) seeking registration of ‘Justice and Development Front’ (JDF) as a political party.
The announcement was made at a public convention in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district on Sunday (23 February) and comes days after J&K police seized books related to the JeI and its ideological founder and Islamic scholar Abul Ala Maududi from some bookstores in the capital Srinagar.
Addressing the convention, Shamim Ahmad Thoker, a teacher and the election in-charge of the breakaway faction, said that the new outfit was going to work for resolving the day to day issues of people of Kashmir.
Shamim Ahmed Thoker, the election-in-charge of the Jamaat-linked upcoming political outfit, addressing the convention in Kulgam. Photo: Muneeb-ul-Islam.
“This is the beginning of a peaceful and political revolution, and a better Kashmir. We are the well-wishers of people. We don’t have enmity with anyone. We request the government to lift the ban (on Jamaat),” he said.
Thoker is likely to be named as the first president of the outfit; Abdul Rehman Shala who lost his security deposit in the recent assembly election from Baramulla constituency is expected to be its vice-president while Sayyar Ahmad Reshi who came second from Kulgam assembly constituency with 34.4 percent votes in the election is likely to be named as the general secretary.
“The formal announcement of the party will be made in a rally in Srinagar once we get the ECI clearance,” Thoker added.
A dissociation
The Bhartiya Janta Party-led Union government banned the JeI under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967 for five years following the Pulwama suicide bombing in 2019. The ban was extended for five more years last year.
An eight-member panel of former and working members of the Jamaat, some of whom attended the Kulgam convention, held talks with the Union government last year to urge for lifting the ban.
However, the incarcerated JeI chief Fayaz Ahmad Wani disassociated the outfit from their “individual activities”.
Kashmiri academic and political scientist Noor Ahmed Baba said that the JeI has had a limited influence in J&K even when it was not banned. He said that the proposed outfit signals the mainstreaming of “some people associated with the Jamaat into the politics of Kashmir in a new political setting”.
“’ like J&K Apni Party, Peoples Conference or Awami Ittehad Party,” he said.
Srinagar-based historian and political analyst Ashiq Hussain raised questions about the decision of “professedly religious minded people” to contest elections in the “secular political space”.
Sayar Ahmed Reshi, who contested as an independent candidate from Kulgam, addressing the convention on Sunday. Photo: Muneeb-ul-Islam.
The JeI has built its ideological foundation on the “disputed” status of Jammu and Kashmir as per the United Nations resolution and the concept of Islamic universalism, but since its inception in 1952 has adopted a fluid political stance in order to remain relevant.
“They have a right to contest elections of course,” Hussain said, “But history is witness to the fact that in the past three decades these same people used the fire power of a militant outfit to keep people away from the polling booths”.
‘NC’s ideological challenger’
The JeI, which has worked extensively in Kashmir’s education sector, has had more than 13000 active members, who were divided into the ranks of associate members, basic members and affiliates, all headed by Ameer-i-Jamaat (head of Jamaat).
When the Kashmir insurgency broke out, the Hizbul Mujahideen worked as the JeI’s armed wing, even as the Jamaat leaders and members faced persecution at the hands of the Ikhwan, a civil militia which was formed to counter militancy. At its electoral peak, the JeI won five seats in the 1972 assembly election.
Rekha Chowdhary, author and former professor of Political Science at the University of Jammu, said that these assembly seats were won by the Jamaat only in a situation in which space was created by the Congress for Jamaat.
“In a bid to keep the plebiscite Front led by the National Conference (NC) founder Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah from contesting the 1972 assembly election, the Congress encouraged the Jamaat to contest the election. When Abdullah came to power in the 1977 election, the outfit was systematically targeted by the NC for its opposition to the Plebiscite Front,” she said.
Chowdhary said that the announcement of a new political outfit was “very much on expected lines” amid the continuation of the anti-terror ban, “Jamaat has social and ideological support in Kashmir but whether it will be able to convert that support into votes seems difficult”, she said.
“Jamaat has historically acted as the NC’s ideological challenger and there is no other political option today for the outfit than to join the mainstream if it has to stay politically relevant,” she said.
A traditional space
However, Hussain said that the government should lift the ban on Jamaat and contest its “warped jihadist and caliphate ideology” in the light of the teachings of the Holy Quran. “The long and short of this election participation gimmick is that either it is a power thirsty organisation or they are dancing to some foreign agency’s tune,” he claimed.
Chowdhary said that the new outfit could hurt the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led by Mehbooba Mufti which is already reeling under crisis after the resignation of several top leaders in the aftermath of the reading down of Article 370 on 5 August 2019, “PDP and Jamaat will struggle for the same space”.
However, Baba said that the new political front would eat into the electoral support of all the existing political parties in Kashmir, except the National Conference.
“But there is no reason to believe that the new outfit would grow beyond its traditional space. The Jamaat has an ideologically committed cadre but whether they will associate themselves with the outfit at a time when the Centre has imposed a ban on it remains doubtful,” he said.
Hussain added: “If the new outfit wins all seats, will they establish a caliphate? How on earth would they do that? Do they want to serve the people? What is their concept of public service?”
The Union territory of J&K has no grassroots representatives whose term ended last month. If the new political outfit gets the ECI nod, the upcoming local body elections would be the first real test of the breakaway faction of JeI whose former and serving members contested the last year’s assembly election under the shadow of the anti-terror ban.
The State Election Commission published the final panchayat electoral rolls on 20 January but the dates of the Panchayat and Municipal Body elections have not been announced so far.