SRINAGAR: Jailed JKLF chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik, who was awarded a life sentence by an NIA court in 2022, claimed in an affidavit submitted to the Delhi High Court that his release in 1994—after his arrest as JKLF chief commander in 1990—and his renouncement of militancy in favor of a non-violent path were part of a deal with the then Central Government.
He stated that the promise (or understanding with him) was honored by every single dispensation of the Indian government, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first term until 2019. “All these dispensations kept on engaging with me,” he said.
Malik, presently lodged in Tihar jail after being awarded life sentence in a terror funding case, filed the affidavit in response to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) seeking death penalty for him in the case, according to a report.
Yasin Malik, who was among the pioneers of armed militancy in Jammu and Kashmir in 1989, was arrested by security forces on August 6, 1990, in Srinagar when he was the chief commander of the militant outfit JKLF.
JKLF was one of many militant groups operating in J&K following the eruption of militancy.
Two days after his arrest, Malik was shifted to Delhi’s Tihar Jail.
“In November 1990, I was moved to a guest house in Mehrauli, where BSF chief Ashok Patel, IB Special Director Dr. Mathur, and DGP J.N. Saxena used to meet me almost daily. They tried to convince me to have dinner with then Prime Minister Chandrashekhar. I refused, and after my repeated refusals, I was shifted to Central Jail in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, in February 1991,” Malik disclosed in the affidavit.
In Agra Jail, he said, the BSF chief and IB Special Director met him numerous times to initiate dialogue and a political process.
After his health deteriorated, he was shifted to AIIMS New Delhi on February 24, 1992. While at the hospital, he underwent open-heart surgery, during which one of his heart valves was replaced.
“Even in the hospital, IB Special Director, IB DIG Mr. Sharma, and IAS officer Wajahat Habibullah visited me multiple times. Civil society members like Kuldip Nayar, Rajmohan Gandhi, and former Chief Justice of the High Court Rajinder Sachar also visited the hospital to interact with me,” Malik revealed.
After being discharged from the hospital, he was shifted to a farmhouse in Mehrauli, which was a sub-jail under the Tihar Jail complex.
“The Governors of Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh, Justice Madhoskar, a former Supreme Court Justice, also visited me to initiate political talks. Kuldip Nayar and Justice Sachar met me several times in the sub-jail,” the JKLF chairman said.
“On one occasion, I was taken from the sub-jail to a bungalow in Maharani Bagh, where then Home Minister Rajesh Pilot, IAS officer Wajahat Habibullah, and certain senior IB officers were present. Each of them requested that I quit armed struggle and restart the movement through a peace process,” Malik revealed in the affidavit.
He said this was followed by more meetings with then Home Minister Rajesh Pilot, Wajahat Habibullah, and other senior IB officers in the same bungalow, where they repeatedly urged him to abandon armed struggle and return to non-violent democratic political activism on the condition that genuine political space would be provided.
“I was told by these officials that then Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao had given a specific task to bring me back to the non-violent political arena,” Malik stated in the affidavit.
“They assured me that they would initiate and resolve the Kashmir dispute through meaningful dialogue, and once I initiated a unilateral ceasefire, all cases against me and my associates would be withdrawn,” the JKLF chairman said.
He further revealed that US and British diplomats stationed at their respective embassies in New Delhi also made similar proposals to him.
“I accepted this and decided to recommence a non-violent democratic struggle. I agreed to the reasoning given to me by the officials and chose to quit armed struggle. The government kept its part of the promise,” Malik claimed.
He revealed that after three years of consistent negotiations, he was finally released from jail in May 1994.
“Upon my return to Srinagar, I held a press conference declaring a unilateral ceasefire. I also publicly committed to following the path of non-violent democratic struggle,” Malik said in the affidavit.
Following his declaration of unilateral ceasefire, JKLF gave up militancy and adopted a non-violent path.
According to the JKLF chairman, this was one of the most unpopular decisions in Kashmir, attracting ire from different quarters. “I was kidnapped by militants from a hospital in Srinagar. Miraculously, I escaped captivity, living another day to fight, but practicing the non-violent, democratic, and peaceful way as taught by Mahatma Gandhi.”
Malik also revealed that after his unilateral ceasefire in 1994, he was granted bail in all 32 pending militancy-related TADA cases as part of a single bail order.
“None of the cases against me were pressed thereafter, in accordance with the understanding under the ceasefire agreement during the Narasimha Rao dispensation,” he said.
Malik reiterated that the promise was upheld by every single dispensation of the Indian government, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first term until 2019. “All these dispensations kept on engaging with me.”
