Srinagar: Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Yasin Malik, currently serving a life sentence, told the Supreme Court on Friday that he is a political leader, not a terrorist, and claimed that seven Indian Prime Ministers had engaged in talks with him in the past.
Appearing via video conference before a bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan, Malik responded to Solicitor General Tushar Mehta’s remarks about his alleged links with militant groups. He argued that his organization has never been designated as a terrorist outfit under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and pointed out that he was granted bail in multiple cases after declaring a unilateral ceasefire in 1994.
Malik stated that successive Prime Ministers, from PV Narasimha Rao to Narendra Modi’s first tenure, upheld the ceasefire understanding. However, he questioned why the current government had revived decades-old militancy-related cases against him, calling it a breach of the ceasefire arrangement.
Solicitor General Mehta countered that the ceasefire was irrelevant to the legal proceedings. The court clarified that it was not examining the merits of the case but only deciding whether Malik should be allowed to cross-examine witnesses virtually.
Malik also defended himself against security concerns raised by the CBI, asserting that all FIRs against him were linked to non-violent political protests rather than militant activities. He further claimed that neither he nor his organization had ever provided shelter or support to militants.
The Supreme Court ruled that Malik would not be physically produced before a Jammu court but could cross-examine witnesses virtually from Tihar Jail. The decision came in response to a CBI plea seeking the transfer of his trials in the 1989 Rubaiya Sayeed kidnapping case and the 1990 Srinagar shootout case from Jammu to New Delhi. The agency also challenged a Jammu trial court’s order allowing his physical presence for witness cross-examination in the abduction case. [KNT]
