Several mainstream J&K parties on Saturday cautioned against granting capital punishment to incarcerated Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Yasin Malik, as the court is likely to hear a plea on the matter by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on May 29.
Former J&K Chief Minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti said that in a democracy like India, “where even the assassins of a Prime Minister were pardoned”, the case of a political prisoner like Yasin Malik must be reviewed and reconsidered. “The new political ‘ikhwan’ (renegades) gleefully supporting his hanging are a grave threat to our collective rights,” Ms. Mufti said.
Peoples Conference chairman Sajad Lone also warned against the NIA’s move. “The NIA plea on Yasin Malik is dangerous. It is a humble plea. Let you not be misled by fair weather Kashmir experts. Please, every situation has a short-term and a long-term. Let the short-term enforced calm not blind you to the possible long-term turbulence,” Mr. Lone said.
He said Mr. Malik faced nine First Information Reports (FIR) against him “when he had not even seen a gun”. “All FIRs pertaining to elections but given an anti-national form and shape,” Mr. Lone said, while referring to the allegedly rigged 1987 elections.
“Let us Kashmiris live in peace. No more experiments. We need oxygen from the rest of the country as we are gasping for political breath. We cannot afford Kashmir being the oxygen for the political landscape in the rest of the country. Reminds me of Afzal Guru and Congress’s hurry to execute him,” Mr. Lone added.
J&K Apni Party leader Junaid Azaim Mattu, also Mayor of Srinagar said he disagreed with Mr. Malik’s ideology but the death penalty did not help anyone. “I have stood to unequivocally oppose his views and his past all my life with an unwavering conviction. However, seeking a death penalty for him doesn’t help anyone but his ideological narrative. Justice isn’t a path taken vindictively,” Mr. Mattu said.
Meanwhile, a widely shared tweet by J&K Apni Party chief Altaf Bukhari, favouring legal action against Mr. Malik was deleted from his timeline.
On Friday, the NIA moved the Delhi High Court and sought capital punishment or death penalty for Mr. Malik, at present lodged at the Tihar Jail, in a terror funding case.
Mr. Malik was sentenced to life imprisonment in a terror funding case in May 2023 by a court. The NIA prosecutor then sought the death penalty for him. However, the amicus curiae argued for minimum punishment, saying that during his confinement, Mr. Malik had not engaged in any of the activities for which he had been convicted and that he had voluntarily pleaded guilty.
In 1994, Mr. Malik, among the first to pick up arms in Kashmir in the 1980s, declared a ceasefire and held backchannel talks with former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and late former Prime Ministers V.P. Singh and Atal Bihari Vajpayee for a peaceful settlement of the Kashmir issue. Mr. Malik is also facing a trial in the kidnapping of former Union Home Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed’s daughter Rubaiya Sayeed in 1989.
