Delhi court convicts Yasin Malik in terror-funding case
A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Delhi on Thursday convicted Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik in a terror-funding case after he pleaded guilty. The court will begin hearing arguments next week for deciding on the quantum of sentence for Malik. He is likely to get a life term. The case is linked to terrorism activities that disturbed the Kashmir Valley in 2017.
On May 11, Malik had pleaded to all charges of the UAPA and IPC sections for criminal conspiracy, including terrorist acts, raising funds for a terrorist act, conspiracy to commit a terrorist act, and being a member of a terrorist gang or organization. Since Malik did not hire a lawyer, the court-appointed amicus curiae confirmed that he was not contesting the charges.
Besides Malik, several other Kashmiri separatist leaders have been charged by the court. Among them were Shabbir Shah, Masarat Alam, former MLA Rashid Engineer, businessman Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali, Bitta Karate, Aftab Ahmad Shah, Avatar Ahmad Shah, Naeem Khan, Bashir Ahmed Bhat alias Peer Saifullah, and others. The chargesheet also had charges against Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) founder Hafiz Saeed and Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin.
In the order dated March 16, NIA Special Judge Praveen Singh said: "The above analysis reflects that the statements of witnesses and documentary evidence have connected almost all the accused with each other and to a common object of secession, to the commonality of means they were to use, their close association to terrorist/terrorist organizations under the guiding hand and funding of Pakistani establishment."
The case is related to the various terror outfits, including the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Hizbul-Mujahideen (HM), Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) backed by Islamic State, perpetrating terrorist and secessionist activities to disturb Jammu and Kashmir.
