The Supreme Court of India on Friday (April 4) rejected the plea of the jailed Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief, Yasin Malik, a former terrorist-turned-separatist leader, for a physical hearing in a Jammu court but allowed him to virtually cross-examine witnesses in terror cases related to kidnapping and murder.

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The trials against him are the 1989 kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed, daughter of former Union Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, and the 1990 shootout, in which four Indian Air Force personnel were killed in Srinagar during the height of militancy in Kashmir.

The CBI had opposed Malik’s physical production, arguing that he poses a national security threat and should not be allowed outside Tihar Jail. 

Appearing before the SC bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan through video-conferencing from Delhi’s Tihar Jail, Malik said that he was “not a terrorist and only a political leader” and claimed that “seven prime ministers had engaged in dialogue with him” in the past.

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Malik is lodged in Tihar jail after he was sentenced by a special NIA court in May 2023 in a terror-funding case.

‘I am not a terrorist; seven PMs engaged with me’

“It is pertinent to note that post a unilateral ceasefire in 1994, I was provided bail in 32 cases and none of the cases were pursued,” Malik said.
“CBI’s objection is that I am a security threat. I am responding to that. I am not a terrorist and only a political leader. Seven PMs have engaged with me,” he said.
In the ongoing trials, witnesses have identified Malik as the main shooter in the Rawalpora, Srinagar shootout, and he is the prime accused in the case.

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’I gave up arms, I’m a Gandhian now’

Earlier, in an affidavit filed in the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) tribunal, Malik said, “I gave up arms, I’m a Gandhian now.” He added that he gave up armed struggle in 1994 and has embraced non-violence.
The tribunal was reviewing the ban on JKLF-Y, which spearheaded armed militancy in the Kashmir Valley in the 1990s.

Malik had reportedly crossed over to the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to receive terror training. The Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) had the backing of Pakistan’s secret service, ISI, for launching insurgency in Kashmir.

Malik and his aides had returned with arms after training and waged a war against the Indian security forces, with targeted attacks on government and security officials, besides kidnapping the Home Minister’s daughter, Rubiya Sayeed.
Malik’s JKLF lost favour with Pakistan after the formation of the Hizbul Mujahideen in Kashmir.

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In August 1990, Malik was captured and imprisoned until May 1994. After release on bail in May 1994, Malik declared an indefinite ceasefire of the JKLF.
Malik renounced violence and expressed a desire for a democratic approach and a non-violent struggle for independence. He offered political negotiations but insisted that they must be tripartite with both Indian and Pakistani governments, a condition unacceptable to India.
Malik then protested the holding of 1995 Legislative Assembly elections and threatened to immolate himself, claiming the Indian government was thrusting the election process on Kashmiris as a display of democracy.

In October 1999, Malik was arrested under the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act (PSA) and again on 26 March 2002 under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA).

Shared dias with LeT’s Hafiz Saeed in Islamabad

Malik came on the radar of authorities once again in February 2013, when he shared the dais with Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed at a protest in Islamabad.
In March 2020, Malik and six accomplices were charged under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA), the Arms Act 1959, and the Ranbir Penal Code for the attack on Indian Air Force personnel in Rawalpora, Srinagar, on 25 January 1990.

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In 2017, India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) registered a case of terror funding against Malik and four others and charged them with receiving funds from Pakistan for carrying out terrorist activities and stone-pelting during the Kashmir unrest in 2010 and 2016.

A Delhi court ordered the framing of charges against Malik under the stringent UAPA and IPC after observing there was prima facie evidence that the accused were direct recipients of terror funds, mainly from Pakistan. 
On 10 May 2022, Malik pleaded guilty to the charges and chose not to have a lawyer represent him. 

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On 19 May 2022, he was convicted by the NIA Court on charges of conspiracy and waging war against the state and subsequently sentenced to two counts of life imprisonment and five 10-year prison sentences, all to be held concurrently.

Malik had married Mushaal Hussein Mullick, who comes from an affluent Pakistani family, in Rawalpindi in 2009.