Properties belonging to LeT ‘commander’, banned Jamaat-e-Islami attached and seized in J&K

A spokesperson of the State Investigation Agency said the move seeks ‘to choke the availability of funds for secessionist activities and to dismantle the ecosystem of anti-national elements and terror networks hostile to India’s sovereignty’

The property of an active Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) ‘commander’ was attached in Jammu’s Doda, and 11 immovable properties were seized of the now banned Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) in four districts of Kashmir on Saturday.

A plot of land belonging to the absconding LeT ‘commander’ Abdul Rashid alias Jhangir from Doda’s Thathri area, was attached in execution of a court order, officials said. Rashid was declared an absconder and subsequently proclaimed an offender by the court. His warrant of attachment of property was forwarded by the Senior Superintendent of Police, Doda, and consequently, a team was constituted by the District Magistrate of Doda to execute the court order. Property of the absconder — land measuring four kanals and two-and-a-half marlas in Khanpura village — was attached by a joint team of revenue and police under Section 83(4) of the CrPC 1973 (earlier Section 88) (04) of the Cr.PC, officials said.

According to police records, Rashid joined militancy and went to Pakistan and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) in 1993 for arms training “to carry out subversive activities”. “He [Rashid] infiltrated and remained active in terror-related activities in Doda. He, along with other dreaded and hard core terrorists, was found involved in number of terrorist attacks on civilians and security forces. A number of youths of Doda were instigated and recruited by him to join militancy in the 1990s,” the police said.

At present, Rashid along with Muhammad Amin alias Khubaib, also a resident of Thathri, are operating from Pakistan and PoK and “are alluring the youth of Doda through various means of social media or virtual mode to join militancy”, the police said. In Kashmir, the J&K Police’s special wing, the State Investigation Agency (SIA), seized properties of the banned JeI at a dozen of locations in Ganderbal, Bandipora, Kupwara and Baramulla districts.

“Properties at about a dozen locations worth hundreds of crores of rupees were seized in Baramulla, Bandipora, Ganderbal and Kupwara districts on the recommendation of the SIA and have been barred with restrictions on usage and entry,” an SIA spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said the move was made to “to choke the availability of funds for secessionist activities and to dismantle the ecosystem of anti-national elements and terror networks hostile to India’s sovereignty”.

“During the seizure proceedings, it was found that about two dozen business establishments in the towns of Kupwara and Kangan are currently running from these JeI properties on rent basis. After due diligence, it was decided that these would be allowed to continue so that private persons who may not have any connections with JeI and are only tenants paying rent to the JeI are not penalised and their livelihood not impaired,” the SIA said.