Who is Yasin Malik?
- Yasin Malik, born in 1966, is a Kashmiri separatist leader and former militant who advocates the separation of Kashmir.
- He is the Chairman of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) which spearheaded armed militancy in the Kashmir Valley.
- Malik renounced violence in 1994 and adopted peaceful methods to come to a settlement on the Kashmir conflict.
- In May 2022, Malik pleaded guilty and was convicted of criminal conspiracy, waging war against the state, fundraising for terrorism, acts of terrorism and many other sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Who is Yasin Malik? A timeline of the terror funding case
What does the chargesheet say about Yasin Malik's offences?
- Malik was arrested in the early 1990s and after his release, he had changed his path from militancy to politics.
- In 1993, he declared JKLF as a political group and became a constituent of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), a separatist amalgam. He later distanced himself from it.
- Even as the NIA sought capital punishment, the charges against him can invite a maximum punishment of life imprisonment.
- Malik had in 1988 after crossing LOC had taken up arms training in Pakistan.
- On 26.02.2019, his house was searched and incriminating materials including documents and electronic items were seized.
- For being a part of the conspiracy related to secessionists and terrorist activities in the State of J&K, he was arrested on 10.04.2019.
- He is accused number 14 in the chargesheet and was arrested on April 10, 2019, though NIA had begun the crackdown on separatists in Kashmir in 2017.
- In 2016, accused Yasin Malik along with SAS Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq formed a self-styled group called Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL).
- JRL started issuing directions to the masses to hold protests, demonstrations, hartals, shutdowns, roadblocks and other disruptive activities to push the entire society into chaos and lawlessness.
- Yasin Malik had played a key role in orchestrating the protests and demonstrations.
- Apart from a protest calendar for the period from 06.08.2016 to 16.08.2016 which was signed by Chairman AHPC, a yearly calendar was also recovered from the house of accused Yasin Malik.
- During the period, the protests were very violent and 89 cases of stone-pelting and other unlawful activities were reported.
- The strategy adopted by accused Yasin Malik in conspiracy with other accused was unearthed during the investigation.
- From the premises of Yasin Malik, a copy of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen’s letterhead was seized.
- The Facebook chat between Yasin Malik and Shahid ul Islam shows that the stone-pelting incidents in Kashmir Valley were orchestrated as a part of a well-planned conspiracy
- Yasin Malik's e-mails show that he had set up an elaborate structure and mechanism across the world to raise funds for carrying out terrorist and other unlawful activities in J&K in the name of “freedom struggle”.
- A transcript of the news clip showing Yasin sharing the stage with Hafiz Saeed is used as evidence. Malik has contended that he had not invited Hafiz Saeed to the stage but the latter occupied the stage without his invitation.
- Yasin Malik had received money from Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali who had, in turn, got it from Hafiz Saeed, amongst others. Yasin Malik said receiving money is not the same thing as raising money for a terrorist organization.
- Although there are some emails reflecting that the accused was raising funds for JKLF, it is not a terrorist organization as per schedule-I of the NIA Act. Thus, offence u/s 40 UAPA is not made out against this accused.
