ISLAMABAD  -   Pakistan yesterday condemned the decision of Indian occupation authorities to declare Muslim League Jammu Kashmir - Masarrat Alam faction (MLJK-MA), as an “unlawful association,” for a period of five years. The party is led by a prominent Kashmiri leader Masarrat Alam Bhatt, who remains imprisoned for a period exceeding 20 years.

The MLJK-MA is the fifth Kashmiri party banned under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). The Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front, Jamaat-e-Islami Jammu and Kashmir, Dukhtaraane- Millat, and Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party have already been outlawed. Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said at a weekly news briefing here that the leadership was being relentlessly persecuted through prolonged detention and confiscation of properties. The Office of All Parties Hurriyat Conference in Srinagar was also sealed, early this year, she remarked.