India's intelligence agencies have assessed that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is executing a multi-pronged strategy to revive terrorism and separatism in Jammu and Kashmir, leveraging banned outfit Jamaat-e-Islami (J&K), proxy educational institutions, and a reconstituted network of overground workers. The strategy, officials say, has intensified in the wake of Operation Sindoor and represents one of the most structured destabilisation efforts the Valley has seen since the abrogation of Article 370.

Jamaat-e-Islami at the Centre of ISI's Revival Plan

According to an Intelligence Bureau official, the ISI has tasked Jamaat-e-Islami cadres in the Valley with a three-pronged mandate: stoking separatist sentiment, raising funds for terror activities, and helping establish a fresh network of overground workers (OGWs). Many Jamaat members are reportedly in active contact with their counterparts in Pakistan and are said to be coordinating the revival of full-scale terrorism in the region.

The Government of India extended the ban on Jamaat-e-Islami, Jammu and Kashmir, by five years in 2024. Announcing the decision, Union Home Minister Amit Shah stated: 'Pursuing PM Modi's policy on zero tolerance against terrorism and separatism, the government has extended the ban on the Jamaat-e-Islami, Jammu and Kashmir, for five years. The organisation is found continuing its activities against the security, integrity, and sovereignty of the nation. The outfit was first declared an Unlawful Association on 28 February 2019. Anyone threatening the security of the nation will face ruthless measures.'

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) recently conducted raids focused primarily on the financial operations of the Jamaat, underscoring the Centre's concern over its fund-mobilisation role.

Merging Terror Groups: Al-Badr, Hizbul Mujahideen and Jamaat

A second official disclosed that the ISI is working to build a self-sustaining terror ecosystem within Jammu and Kashmir that can operate with minimal cross-border direction. As part of this effort, it has already brought Al-Badr and Hizbul Mujahideen together under a coordinated structure. The Jamaat is being positioned to handle funding and logistics for this combined network.

Officials note that all three outfits — Al-Badr, Hizbul Mujahideen, and Jamaat-e-Islami — draw heavily from local populations, giving them a grassroots reach that externally-based groups lack. While their senior leadership remains based in Pakistan, they are assessed to be capable of communicating with, and radicalising, local youth independently.

Proxy Schools and Long-Term Radicalisation

Perhaps the most alarming element of the ISI's strategy, according to officials, is the plan to set up proxy educational institutions through the Jamaat. Intelligence agencies assess that the ISI is directing the Jamaat to establish schools run by front operators, with the aim of radicalising children from a young age — a long-term investment in future cadres.

Officials describe this as a 'dangerous long-term strategy' given the difficulty of reversing ideological conditioning instilled in minors. This is not without precedent: the Jammu and Kashmir administration had previously ordered the takeover of 200 schools affiliated with the Jamaat and its associated wing, Falah-e-Aam Trust, placing them under government administrators to dismantle radical educational networks.

Notably, officials assess the Jamaat to be a more effective radicalisation vehicle than Al-Badr or Hizbul Mujahideen, precisely because it has historically emphasised ideology and religious indoctrination over direct violence — making it harder to surveil and prosecute.

Post-Operation Sindoor: ISI in Overdrive

Officials say the ISI and the Pakistani military have significantly escalated their efforts following Operation Sindoor, which they describe as having caused considerable embarrassment to Islamabad. The agencies are maintaining close surveillance on joint activities being carried out by the Jamaat, Hizbul Mujahideen, and Al-Badr.

Separatism in the Valley had largely receded after the revocation of Article 370, but intelligence inputs suggest a concerted push to revive it is now underway. Security forces remain deployed across the Valley in counter-terror operations, even as the focus of the threat has shifted from infiltration to internal radicalisation and local network-building.

With proxy schools, merged terror outfits, and a revived funding chain in play, officials warn the battle for Jammu and Kashmir is entering a more complex and protracted phase.