India Bans Pan-Islamic Group Hizb-Ut-Tahrir (HuT)

The Indian government on Thursday banned Hizb-ut-Tahrir (HuT), a global pan-Islamic group founded in Jerusalem in 1953, claiming that the organization seeks to establish an Islamic state and caliphate around the world, including in India, through jihad and terrorist activities.

In a notification, the Union Home Ministry stated that the HuT is involved in radicalizing and motivating gullible youth to join terrorist organizations such as ISIS, as well as raising funds for terrorist activities.

Later, the office of Union Home Minister Amit Shah said in a post on X, “Pursuing PM Shri @narendramodi Ji’s policy of zero tolerance towards terrorism, the MHA today declared ‘Hizb-Ut-Tahrir’ as a ‘Terrorist Organisation’.”

“The outfit is involved in a variety of terrorist acts, including radicalising gullible youths to join terrorist organisations and raising funds for terrorist activities, posing a serious threat to India’s national security and sovereignty. “The Modi government is committed to securing Bharat by dealing with terrorists with an iron fist,” the home minister’s office stated.

The HuT promotes terrorism by using various social media platforms and secure apps, as well as holding ‘Dawah’ meetings to encourage gullible youth to commit terrorist acts, according to the notification.

According to the home ministry, the HuT is an organisation that seeks to establish an Islamic state and caliphate around the world, including in India, by overthrowing democratically elected governments through jihad and terrorist activities involving Indian citizens, posing a serious threat to the country’s democratic setup and internal security.

“And whereas, the central government believes that Hizb-ut-Tahrir is involved in terrorism and has participated in various acts of terrorism in India,” the notification stated, declaring the group a banned organization under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act of 1967.

The ban will apply to HuT and all of its manifestations and front organisations.

On Tuesday, the National Investigation Agency arrested a key suspect in the Tamil Nadu Hizb-ut-Tahrir case, which is about spreading disaffection and secessionism by promoting the ideology of the anti-India organization.

So far, the NIA has arrested seven accused in the case.

The NIA claimed that the arrested accused were actively engaged in propagating secessionism and seeking military assistance from Pakistan to liberate Kashmir.

“The ulterior motive of the conspiracy was to establish Khilafat by overthrowing the government of India by waging violent Jihad,” alleged the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

HuT, founded in 1953, is an international pan-Islamic organization whose long-term goal is to establish a caliphate rule under Islamic law. The group is headquartered in Lebanon and operates in at least 30 countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, and Australia.

The HuT has a history of praising and celebrating attacks on Israel and Jews more broadly.

Several countries have banned HuT due to their subversive activities. Germany, Egypt, the United Kingdom, as well as several Central Asian and Arab countries, have already banned the group.