Srinagar, June 22 (Reporter) A tribunal has upheld the Union government’s decision to declare the faction of Muslim League Jammu Kashmir headed by seperatist leader Masarat Alam and Tehreek -e- Huriyat formed by late Syed Ali Geelani an ‘unlawful associations’ under the anti-terror Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). The ban is effective for five years. The UAPA Tribunal presided over by Justice Sachin Datta of Delhi High Court confirmed the order passed by Ministry of Home Affairs December 27, 2003 and December 31, 2023 by which it had declared Muslim League Jammu and Kashmir [Masrat Alam faction] and Tehreek E Huriyat Jammu and Kashmir as an unlawful association under section 3(1) of UAPA. Any person claiming to be member or sympathiser of these association will face prosecution under stringent UAPA provision for next five years, the UAPA tribunal’s order said. Masarat became the chairman of the hardline faction of the Hurriyat Conference following the death of Syed Ali Geelani. Currently, he is in jail. "By the final report the Tribunal after examining the evidence produced by the central government upheld the ban holding that these were Pakistan-sponsored organisations who with the help from across the border were carrying out secessionist activities in the valley with the objective of separating Jammu and Kashmir from India so as to realize the merger of Jammu and Kashmir with Pakistan and establish Islamic rule in Jammu and Kashmir," the Tribunal said. The Tribunal also upheld the contention of the central government that these organisation were acting on behalf of Pak based terrorist organisations such as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) of Hafiz Sayeed, Jamaat-ud-Dawa of lftikhar Hyder Rana and Hizbul Mujahideen of Syed Salahuddin and were giving constant onground support to such organisation to carryout militant operation in the valley. On the same ground the central government had earlier this year banned seven other organisations operating in Kashmir valley under the provisions of UAPA and Tribunals of Justice Naveen Chawla and Justice Neena Bansal of Delhi High Court are in the process of scrutinising these ban...////...