J&K: Businessman-activist Sandeep Mawa affixes Tricolour on JKLF office door

On Tuesday, Sandeep Mawa, a Kashmiri pandit, affixed the national flag on the office door of the banned separatist outfit Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front in Srinagar's Bohri Kadal area.

Srinagar (J&K):Businessman-turned-political activist Sandeep Mawa on Tuesday affixed the Indian tricolour on the office door of the banned separatist group Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) in Srinagar's Bohri Kadal area.

Mawa along with a small group of supporters affixed the flag on the main entrance of the JKLF's headquarters in the Bohri Kadal neighborhood of central Srinagar. Pertinently, the offices of the JKLF have mostly been shut since the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019. Speaking to reporters after pasting the flag, Mawa claimed that "Kashmiris will not allow anti-national activities".

"JKLF was involved in terror activities in Jammu and Kashmir right from the 1960s and has been led by people like Maqbool Bhat, Yasin Malik and Bitta Karate. We have given them a befitting reply today," Mawa said. He further said, "Kashmiri Muslims and Pandits will together make a new Jammu and Kashmir where development and progress will take place on the path of peace."

Yasin Malik, the jailed chief of JKLF who has been awarded a life term in the terror funding case, is currently lodged in Tihar jail. In May this year, the NIA approached the Delhi High Court seeking death penalty for Malik, asserting not giving capital punishment to such a "dreaded terrorist" will result in miscarriage of justice.

On August 3 last year, Mawa affixed two national flags on the gate of the Hurriyat Conference office in Srinagar's Rajbagh area. In 2021, Mawa’s salesman was killed by militants in Srinagar. He had then claimed that he escaped the attack as he left his shop early due to a prior intelligence input.