NHT EXCLUSIVE
ISLAMABAD, May 23: Yasin Malik, the chief of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) and all other Hurriyat leaders have been illegally detained by India in a jail in New Delhi for the past several years.
The Indian court has convicted Yasin Malik in a 30-year old concocted case. International media has termed the Indian illegal action as political vendetta ‘It seems like political vendetta’ (Al-Jazeera).
The filing of all these cases against the leading pro-freedom leader has forced many in the disputed region to fear that the Indian state has already decided to “sign his death warrant”. (Al-Jazeera)
According to an open letter he released from prison through his family in March 2020, the JKLF had announced the unilateral ceasefire in 1994 after assurances of a political settlement and suspension of “militancy related cases” against him and his colleagues by the Indian state.
In a statement issued following Malik’s conviction, the Pakistan Foreign Office called the development “highly reprehensible” and said that the “fictitious charges” against him were not only in defiance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) but also an attempt to make “conjectural insinuations about Pakistan”.
On 19 May 2022, Malik was convicted by the Indian National Investigation Agency (NIA) Court on charges of conspiracy and waging war against the Indian state.
It is pertinent to mention that during the first five years of BJP/ RSS government led by PM Narendra Modi no militancy-related cases against him and his party were filed. India in defiance to the government signed agreement violated the ceasefire pledge made in 1994 when the TADA court in Jammu started trial of these 30-year-old militancy related cases which is actually against the spirit of the truce.
Yasin Malik has publically accused the judge of behaving like a “prosecuting or police officer” and being denied a fair trial. He stated:-
“Though I have every legal right to be presented physically before the court, but the judge and the CBI at the behest of government are not allowing me to present myself before the trial court physically”. I am being presented through video conference, where neither I am able to hear the arguments of the lawyers nor am I being allowed to speak.”
Tufail Raja, the lawyer representing Malik in the NIA’s “terror funding” case, alleged that cases are being fabricated against him. Raja said Malik has decided that if the government does not offer him a fair trial, he will boycott it.
Khurram Parvez, a leading HR activist said “Fair trial is a globally recognised right for everyone. If you are suddenly pulling out old cases and not even allowing the accused to properly represent his case, then there would definitely be question marks over it” (Al Jazeera).
Human rights groups in IIOJK have also accused the Indian government of being unfair towards Malik.
It is a public knowledge that how Indian government in 1984 judicially murdered the JKLF founder Maqbool Bhat by sending him to the gallows. People in the IIOJK fear Malik is next in line to be “judicially murdered” by India’s right-wing government to further their political gains.
Former Indian diplomat Wajahat Habibullah also acknowledged speculations of him being hanged doing the rounds. Faizan Bhat, an IIOJK based independent researcher said, “We have seen that when it comes to Kashmiri political detainees, apart from the Indian state, even their judiciary also bypasses all rules laws and guidelines”(Al Jazeera).