Sadness hangs in the air in Kashmir while Yasin Malik pled guilty to the charges framed against him choosing not to have a lawyer.
Yasin Malik chose not to have a lawyer represent him and was appearing for himself in Srinagar ahead of the court verdict on Kashmiri separatist Yasin Malik, who on May 10 pleaded guilty to all charges, including those under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) while gloom hangs over the Valley as they fear his impending execution.
The NIA on Wednesday sought the death penalty for convicted Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik, who had earlier pleaded guilty to all charges, including those under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, in a terror funding case, court sources said. The agency made the submission before special judge Praveen Singh, while the amicus curiae appointed by the court to assist Malik sought life imprisonment, the minimum punishment in the matter. Malik, meanwhile, told the judge that he was leaving it to the court to decide the quantum of punishment. After hearing the arguments, the court reserved its order and is likely to pronounce it later in the day.
In the Kashmir Valley, shops and other business establishments were shut in some parts of the city ahead of a Delhi court’s verdict on the quantum of sentence for Kashmiri separatist Yasin Malik, who was convicted in a terror funding case earlier this month.
Shops and other business establishments were shut in some parts of the city. However, the public transport and private vehicles were operating normally.
Security officials have been deployed in the sensitive areas of Srinagar to avoid any law-and-order situation, officials said.
Malik on May 10 pleaded guilty to all charges, including those under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). The Kashmiri separatist told the court that he was not contesting the charges leveled against him.
Malik faces a maximum punishment of the death penalty, while the minimum sentence for the Kashmiri separatist in the case is life imprisonment.
The court had earlier said that Malik had set up an elaborate structure and mechanism across the world to raise funds for carrying out terrorist and other unlawful activities in Jammu and Kashmir in the name of the “freedom struggle”.
About Yasin Malik
His Political Rise
Yasin Malik was born on 3 April 1966 in the densely populated Maisuma locality of Srinagar and as a young boy witnessed violence carried out on the streets by the security forces. In 1980, after watching an altercation between the army and taxi drivers, his life changed and from that moment, he is said to have become a rebel.
He formed a party called the Tala Party, which formed a revolutionary front, printing and distributing political materials and causing disruptions with his new movement. His group was involved in attempting to disrupt the 1983 cricket match with West Indies in the Sher-i-Kashmir Stadium, disturbing National Conference gatherings in Srinagar and protesting Maqbool Bhat’s execution. Malik was arrested and detained for four months.
He got released in1986, and the Tala Party was renamed the Islamic Students League (ISL), with Malik as the general secretary. The ISL became an important youth movement. Among its members were Ashfaq Majeed Wani, Javed Mir, and Abdul Hameed Sheikh.
In 1987, the Islamic Students League led by Yasin Malik joined the Muslim United Front However, the opposing National Conference candidate Ghulam Mohiuddin Shah was declared the winner. Yusuf Shah as well as Yasin Malik were arrested by the police and imprisoned until the end of 1987 without a formal charge, court appearance, or a trial.
During the elections, widespread rigging and “booth-capturing” were reported, which, were reportedly carried out by the National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah in connivance with the Government of India.
The police refused to listen to any complaints. The National Conference-Congress alliance was declared the winner with 62 seats in the Assembly and formed the government.
The rigged election of 1987 is seen by most scholars as to the catalyst for the Kashmir insurgency to which Malik disagrees and says, “Let me clear it, rigging in 1987 elections didn’t result in armed militancy. We were there even before 1987.”
Yasin Malik Turns a Hard-Core Militant After His Prison Release
After his release from prison, Yasin Malik crossed over to the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to receive training at camps situated there. He returned to the Kashmir Valley in 1989 as a core member of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), declaring his goal as the independence for the entirety of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir.
Yasin Malik, along with Hamid Sheikh, Ashfaq Wani, and Javed Ahmad Mir, formed the core group — dubbed the “HAJY” group — of the JKLF militants returning with arms and training received in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Reports say they were “stunned” by the enthusiastic response to their call for independence in the Kashmir Valley. They waged a guerrilla war with the Indian security forces, kidnapping Rubiya Sayeed, the daughter of Indian Home Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, and targeting attacks on the government and security officials.
In March 1990, Ashfaq Wani was killed in a battle with Indian security forces. In August 1990, Yasin Malik was captured in a wounded condition. He was imprisoned until May 1994. Hamid Sheikh was also captured in 1992 but released by the Border Security Force to counteract the pro-Pakistan guerrillas.
By 1992, the majority of the JKLF militants were killed or captured and they were yielding ground to pro-Pakistan guerilla groups such as the Hizbul Mujahideen, strongly promoted by the Pakistani military authorities. Further encroachment by pan-Islamist fighters infiltrating into the Valley from Pakistan altered the nature of the insurgency. Pakistan is said to have stopped its financial support to the JKLF because the JKLF did not support Kashmir’s integration with Pakistan as they wanted to be independent.
Too many lives lost caused Yasin Malik to declare an indefinite ceasefire of the JKLF.
After release from prison on bail in May 1994, Yasin Malik declared an indefinite ceasefire of the JKLF. However, he says that JKLF still lost a hundred activists to Indian operations. Independent journalists mentioned three hundred activists were killed. They were said to have been compromised by Hizb-ul-Mujahideen members, who informed their whereabouts to the Indian security forces.
Malik renounced violence and adopted a Gandhian non-violent struggle for independence
After the loss of so many Kashmir lives, Malik renounced violence and adopted a Gandhian non-violent struggle for independence. He expressed a desire for a “democratic approach” involving the “true representatives” of Jammu and Kashmir. He offered political negotiations, but insisted that they must be tripartite with both Indian and Pakistani governments, and should cover the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir.
All this was not received by the Indian government. In the Spring of 1995, Malik protested the holding of Legislative Assembly elections and threatened to immolate himself. He contended that the Indian government has “thrust this election process” on the Kashmiris just as a display of democracy.
Yasin Malik’s peaceful struggle was unacceptable to the leadership of JKLF in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. At the end of 1995, Amanullah Khan, the founder chairman of JKLF, removed Malik as the president of JKLF. In return, Malik expelled Khan from the chairmanship. Thus JKLF had split into two factions. Victoria Schofield states that the Pakistan government recognized Yasin Malik as the leader of JKLF, which further complicated the situation.
Recent Times
In October 1999, Malik was arrested by Indian Authorities under the Public Safety Act (PSA) and was again arrested on 26 March 2002 under the Prevention of Terrorism Act; he was detained for almost a year.
In 2007, Malik and his party launched a campaign known as Safar-i-Azadi (Journey of Freedom). His journey to meet some select world leaders was to build an environment of anti-Indian sentiment among the public; which had lasted for over one year. During this time Yasin Malik and his colleagues visited about 3,500 towns and villages of Kashmir promoting an anti-Indian stance.
In 2005, a rival faction of Yasin Malik inside JKLF formed a separate organization “JKLF(R)”. Javed Mir is its convener.
In February 2013, Yasin Malik shared the dais with the banned Lashker-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed at a protest in Islamabad, which was condemned by many commentators, including Muslim bodies.
On 4 December 2013, JKLF claimed that Malik was thrown out of a hotel in New Delhi with his wife and 18-month-old daughter due to his political Ideology of separatism. On 12 January 2016, Yasin Malik wrote a letter to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, opposing Gilgit-Baltistan’s merger with Pakistan.
Charges for 1990 attack
In March 2020, Yasin Malik and six accomplices were charged under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA), the Arms Act 1959, and Ranbir Penal Code for the attack on 40 Indian Air Force personnel in Rawalpora, Srinagar on 25 January 1990. During the attack, four IAF personnel died. The trial is still going on and Yasin Malik is facing trial for the kidnapping of Rubaiyya Sayeed and the subsequent exchange of five militants.
2017 terror funding case
In 2017, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) registered a case of terror funding against various separatist leaders and named Yasin Malik and four others in a charge sheet filed in 2019. The agency charged them with receiving funds from Pakistan to carry out terrorist activities and stone-pelting during the Kashmir unrest, especially in 2010 and 2016.
In March 2022, a Delhi court reviewed the evidence and summoned the framing of charges against Yasin Malik and others under the stringent UAPA and Indian Penal Code. The judge observed there was prima facie evidence that the accused were direct recipients of terror funds, mainly from Pakistan, with which they shared goals. The court saw a criminal conspiracy for organizing large-scale protests, resulting in violence and arson on a monumental scale.
The court found sufficient evidence against Malik under sections 38 and 39 of UAPA (association with a terrorist organization and inviting support for the terrorist organization) with regard to Lashkar-e-Taiba.)
On 10 May 2022, Malik pled guilty to the charges framed against him. Malik chose not to have a lawyer represent him and was appearing for himself.
In a unique move, On 10 May 2022, Malik pled guilty to the charges framed against him. Malik chose not to have a lawyer represent him and was appearing for himself.
The court appointed an amicus curiae to explain the charges to Malik and make him understand the consequences. Malik confirmed to the amicus that he did not want to contest the charges and that he was ready to face whatever was in store for him.
On 19 May 2022, Malik was convicted by the NIA Court on charges of conspiracy and waging war against the state.
People who want him freed are saying the courts had declared the same about Nelson Mandela but history never endorsed the court verdict. There is a deep sentiment among the Kashmiris that their hero Yasin Malik be released. There are emotional demonstrations going on in Jammu and Kashmir for his release and they are very disturbed and there is sadness in the Valley. If they choose to hang Yasin Malik, he will become a greater hero and trigger higher sentiments in the hearts of the people.
Walking like a lion that He is..❤️✌️
A bunch of sheeps sourrounding the wolf #YasinMalik as he was presented at Kangaroo court of India earlier today.This Video gives goosebumps!❤️#Pak_StandsWithYasinMalik pic.twitter.com/S2qtwyNoSq
— Arifullah Khan Marwat (@Arif_marwat786) May 25, 2022
Family and neighbours protesting at #YasinMalik's Maisuma residence in Srinagar while waiting for the pronouncement of judgment against him from a Delhi court. #Kashmir pic.twitter.com/lwrxXgTtVg
— Zulqarnain Ibn Usuf | ذوالقرنین ابن یوسف (@mzzulfi) May 25, 2022
The leadership of #Kashmir are being eliminated one by one
We lost Geelani Sahab. We lost Sehrai SahabNow India are going after #YasinMalik
A legitimately peaceful leader representing Kashmirs aspirations of freedom from India.
My friend.
My brother.#ReleaseYasinMalik pic.twitter.com/FqnrwiZ3PE— Muzzammil Ayyub Thakur (@M_A_Thakur) May 24, 2022