Teachers booked as students, alumni engage in militant activities in Jammu and Kashmir

The Jammu and Kashmir Police have booked three teachers of a religious seminary in south Kashmir’s Shopian district after some of its students and alumni were found involved in militancy.

“The school (Jamia Siraj-ul-Uloom) is already under observation. We have booked its three teachers under the Public Safety Act (PSA),” Inspector General Police (IGP), Kashmir, Vijay Kumar told reporters, here.

Under the PSA - authorities can detain a person for up to two years without a trial.

“About half a dozen other teachers of the school are under surveillance. Right now we are taking action against individuals (but) if need arises, we will take action against the school,” he said.

The institution’s alumni include Sajjad Bhat, an accused in the February 2019 fidayeen (suicide) attack on a CRPF convoy in neighbouring Pulwama district that left 40 paramilitary personnel dead.

Sources said the seminary came under the surveillance of intelligence agencies after over a dozen of its students joined militant ranks. Most of the students in the seminary are from four south Kashmir districts of Shopian, Kulgam, Pulwama and Anantnag, considered to be the hotbeds of new age militancy in Kashmir.