Have no links with any militant organisation: IjeT

Following allegations by the police of “luring youth into militancy”, the Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba (IjeT), an influential students body in Jammu and Kashmir, on Tuesday said the organisation had “no links with any militant person or organisation” and that their activities were “within the ambit of law of the land”.

“The IjeT has no links with any militant person or organisation. All our activities are peaceful and within the ambit of law of the land. Hundreds of students associated with the IJeT are and remain law abiding citizens and never indulge in any subversive activity,” said the organisation’s spokesman.

The statement comes a day after the Inspector General of Police, Jammu, Manish Sinha, claimed that the group was “involved in radicalising youth from non-criminal background into taking up arms”.

“It’s using its network of schools to spread anti-India feelings among children in the Kashmir Valley and encouraging youth who don’t have criminal cases to join jihad. An attempted suicide bombing on security forces in Banihal on March 30 was carried out by a radicalised student from the group. So far, he said, six militant have been arrested in the case,” Mr. Sinha said on Monday.

The IjeT, the students’ wing of the banned Jamaat-e-Islami, said it was just focused on “imparting moral values to students and guiding them in education and achieving excellence in professional careers”.

“The person mentioned by the police is not a member of the IJeT. He might have attended any of our public meetings somewhere in Kashmir in the past, like hundreds of students do, but he has never officially been part of our organisation anytime in the past,” said the spokesman.