Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, May 15 : In a significant development, the banned Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) leader in Kashmir today said that it was ready to contest polls if Centre lifts the ban on it.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) imposed a ban on JeI in 2019 terming the organization as “anti-national”.
Talking to Excelsior here, JeI leader Ghulam Qadir Wani of Gussu, Pulwama, said that the members of JeI cast their votes in the recent Lok Sabha polls. He also cast vote in the May 13 polls for Srinagar Lok Sabha polls.
“We will try to contest polls in the upcoming Assembly polls slated for September this year,” said Wani.
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JeI leader said that the banned organization always believed in democratic process. “We will field our own candidates if the Centre revokes the ban on us. There are other issues but revocation of ban is the first pre-condition to join the poll fray,” he said.
Wani said socio-religious reforms would be the poll plank of JeI besides drug abuse and growing immortality.
The JeI said a crucial session of JeI’s Majlis-e Shoora was held and a decision was taken to contest polls.
“We never changed our stance as we believe in democracy, ” he said.
In reply to a query, why JeI members boycotted polls in the past, he said when nobody voted, JeI followed suit. “There was pressure and threat as well, “he added.
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