The villager

SIRAJ-UL-ULOOM SHOPIAN BANNED South Kashmir's premier educational institute "Darul Uloom Jamia Siraj-ul-Uloom", based in Shopian and purportedly linked to the outlawed Jamaat-e-Islami Jammu and Kashmir and its subsidiary "Falah-e-Aam Trust" (FAT), has been banned by the Union Territory Government under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), 1967. According to an order issued by the Kashmir Divisional Commissioner Anshul Garg, the action is consequent upon a dossier dated 24 March 2026 from SSP Shopian. Charges slapped on the institute include "serious legal, administrative and financial irregularities... questionable land acquisition, lack of mandatory registration with competent authorities, and deliberate attempts to evade statutory oversight". “The cumulative facts and circumstances, supported by intelligence inputs and field verification, provide sufficient grounds to reasonably believe that the premises are being used for the purposes of an unlawful association,” reads the order. According to the Government Order, the institution’s plea of innocence and non-involvement in unlawful activities was found "unsustainable", as available material suggested that it was aware of such activities and failed to take adequate steps to prevent misuse of its premises. The notification empowers the concerned District Magistrate to seize the entire premises and properties of the banned institute and arrange for migration and admission of its students in the District's Government schools. Sources say that the ban on Sirajul Uloom is part of a larger action of banning and seizing 58 educational institutions allegedly linked to Jamaat-e-Islami and FAT in the Kashmir Valley. As many as 215 of such schools of adverse CID reporting have already been closed down during the incumbent Omar Abdullah Government despite resistance of the Minister of Education and bipartisan opposition by the Valley based political parties.