NEW DELHI: Yasin Malik, the chief of the banned Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), was on Thursday convicted under the stringent anti-terror law by a Delhi court. The case related to the funding of terror activities in Jammu and Kashmir. Malik had pleaded guilty to all charges framed against him.
Special Judge Praveen Singh posted the matter for May 25 for the quantum of punishment. He also directed the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to assess Malik’s financial condition to determine the amount of fine that could be imposed.
Charges were framed against Malik in March, following which he informed the court on May 10 that he would not be contesting the charges levelled against him. Malik faces the maximum punishment of a death penalty, while the minimum sentence for the offences committed by him is life imprisonment.The case pertains to the conspiracy by Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Saeed and separatist leaders, including members of the Hurriyat Conference, who had acted in connivance with active members of banned terrorist organisations Hizbul Mujahideen, Dukhtaran-e-Millat and others to collect funds domestically and from abroad through various illegal channels, including hawala.
The funds were meant for separatist and terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir to cause disruption in the Valley by way of pelting stones on security forces, burning schools, and damaging public property
Malik is also facing other cases, including two in the CBI that pertains to the gunning down of IAF personnel in 1990 and the kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed, daughter of the then Home Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed in 1989. The trial against the remaining accused persons in the case shall continue as they have pleaded not guilty before the court.
GRAVE CHARGES
Terrorist outfits including Lashkar-e-Taiba, Hizb-ul-Mujahiddin, and Jaish-e- Mohammed with the support of Pakistan’s ISI unleashed perpetrated violence by attacking civilians and security forces.
In 1993, All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) was formed to give a political front to the secessionist activities in the Kashmir Valley.
Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, Amir of Jammat-ud-Dawah, and the secessionist and separatist leaders were acting in connivance with active militants of proscribed terrorist organisations
Malik was involved in terror activities. In 2016, he and other separatist leaders formed Joint Resistance Leadership and gave directions to the masses to hold disruptive activities such as protests, shutdowns, and road-blocks
PAKISTAN MIFFED
In Islamabad, Pakistan government summoned India’s Charge d’Affaires and handed over a demarche conveying condemnation of the framing of ‘fabricated charges’ against Malik. ‘The Indian diplomat was conveyed Pakistan’s concern that in a bid to suppress the voice of the indigenous Kashmiri leadership, the Indian government has resorted to implicating them in fictitious and motivated cases,’ it said.