New Delhi: Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front leader Yasin Malik, who is serving a life sentence handed down by an NIA court in 2022 for terror funding and waging war against India, has told the Delhi High Court that he maintained a “working relationship” with successive Indian governments since 1990.
Malik claimed that Prime Ministers from VP Singh to Manmohan Singh, and even Atal Bihari Vajpayee, engaged with him for dialogue on Kashmir, regional peace, and security.
In his written submissions opposing the NIA’s plea seeking the death penalty, Malik said he was invited by then PM Manmohan Singh in 2006 for formal talks, attended by senior ministers and officials. He also stated that Vajpayee and Home Minister L.K. Advani issued him his first passport in 2001, enabling him to travel abroad with valid visas to speak on Kashmir at international forums.
Malik further claimed that he interacted with top officials, including India’s first NSA Brajesh Mishra, who encouraged him to make statements on behalf of separatist leaderships.
He said he had declared a unilateral ceasefire in 1994 and that successive governments, including the Modi government’s first term, refrained from reviving old TADA cases against him. However, he alleged that after the abrogation of Article 370, the current dispensation breached this understanding by reopening decades-old cases.
Malik also described his ordeal in solitary confinement, with frequent searches and “absolute isolation.”
Last month, he sought permission to argue his case himself, and the High Court has listed the matter for hearing on November 10.
