The Union government is likely to ban two factions of Hurriyat Conference under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) for practising separatist actions in Jammu and Kashmir. The seccessionist organisation has been leading the separatist movement in Jammu and Kashmir for over two decades.

Both the factions of the Hurriyat are likely to be banned under Section 3(1) of the UAPA, under which “if the Central Government is of opinion that any association is, or has become, an unlawful association, it may, by notification in the Official Gazette, declare such association to be unlawful.”

A recent probe into the allotment of MBBS seats to Kashmiri students by institutions in Pakistan indicates that the money collected from aspirants by some organisations part of the Hurriyat Conference was being used to fund terror organisations.

Members and cadres of the Hurriyat Conference who have been acting in connivance with active militants of proscribed terrorist organisations Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM), Dukhtaran-e-Millat (DeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), as per officials.

According to officials, evidence suggests that the money was “put into channels that ended up in supporting programmes and projects pertaining to terrorism and separatism like payment for organising stone pelting.”