For Jamaat - e - Islami (JI) Jammu and Kashmir the ban imposed on the socio - political religious organisation by the union government is not the first and perhaps not the last.
The government on Thursday declared the JI Jammu and Kashmir as "an unlawful association whose activities have the potential of disrupting the unity and integrity of India".
Before imposing the five - year - long ban, more than 250 leaders and cadres of the organisation were picked up by police during nocturnal raids throughout the Valley.
After lodging them in local police stations, many senior leaders of the JI have been shifted to the central jail in Srinagar city.
The Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL), the separatist conglomerate headed by Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik, called for post Friday prayer protests against the ban.
The authorities reacted by imposing restrictions in parts of Srinagar city to prevent any protests.
The ban order has been criticised by some mainstream politicians, including former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti.
Mehbooba said: "Democracy is a battle of ideas.
The crackdown, followed by the banning of Jammat Islami is condemn able and another example of high handedness and muscular approach of the GOI (Govenment of India) to deal with the political issue of J&K".
Separatist leaders in both the Syed Ali Geelani headed group and Mirwaiz Umer headed Hurriyat group have condemned the ban with one voice.
The authorities have placed Mirwaiz Umer under house arrest while Geelani continues to be under house arrest in Srinagar city.
Muhammad Yasin Malik is also under preventive detection.
JI Jammu and Kashmir is distinct from Jamaat - e - Islami Hind that was founded in 1948 as an Islamic organisation, but finally split into three offshoots in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
The founder of the Jamaat - e - Islami Hind, Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, however, continues to the beacon light for the JI J&K as well.
The JI was first banned in 1975 during the emergency for opposing the Indira - Abdullah accord that finally brought back the National Conference (NC) founder, Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah, into mainstream politics.
The organisation was again banned by the central government headed by V. P. Singh in 1990.
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