Participants of Seminar condemn sentencing of Yasin Malik

ISLAMABAD, June 15: Participants of a seminar condemned the life imprisonment sentence awarded to Yasin Malik by an Indian court. They were speaking at the seminar titled “Yasin Malik: Kashmiri Freedom Fighter or a Terrorist?” organized by the Institute of Regional Studies (IRS) here on Wednesday.
Terming the charges against Malik fabricated and fictitious, the participants of the seminar called for his immediate release from prison. They reiterated that India could not silence Kashmiris through such tactics.
DrMujahidGilani, the nephew of the jailed Kashmiri freedom fighter AsiyaAndrabi, called for greater appreciation of Kashmir as an occupied territory where a resistance movement against the illegal occupation was ongoing. He termed the Indian courts instruments of Indian occupation and added that there was a complete lack of faith in all Indian institutions among the population of the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK). Gilani expressed his fear that the pending cases of other jailed Kashmiri freedom fighters could also be decided in a similar sham manner. He added that the resolve of the Kashmiris to resist Indian occupation would be strengthened with the sentence.
Advocate AamirRaza shed light on the legal aspects of the sentence. Terming the sentence illegal, he shared that it was the harshest sentence the court could award for his alleged crimes. He regretted the fact that Pakistan could not take the matter to the International Court of Justice because of lack of jurisdiction. Therefore, he urged the supporters of Yasin Malik to submit an appeal against the decision in the High Court because that was the only legal recourse available to them. -PR