Jail for Malik

The life sentence for Yasin Malik in a case related to terrorism and secessionist activities in 2016-17 underscores that mere self-attestation of having given up the path of violence decades back falls flat in the face of actions that prove otherwise. The Kashmiri separatist leader’s invocation of Mahatma Gandhi found a counter in the special NIA court’s observation that he may have given up arms in 1994, but never expressed any regret for the violence committed prior to it or condemned the violence that took place later, and that his crimes, ‘committed with the assistance of foreign powers and designated terrorists, intended to strike at the heart of the idea of India’.

In foregoing the option of a trial by pleading guilty to the charges framed against him, the 56-year-old chairman of the banned Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front appeared to be setting himself apart as a man of peace being wronged, but for the victims and their families, on the table now is the fast-track adjudication of militancy-related cases against him. Among the first group of young Kashmiris to cross over to Pakistan for arms training, Malik was also among the first to give up violence, claiming years later that the Centre had assured suspension of such cases, and that any action at this stage meant a violation of the ceasefire pledge.

According to the FIR, Kashmiri separatists were receiving funds from Pakistan to foment trouble and Malik admitted to being instrumental in forming the ‘Joint Resistance Leadership’ which spearheaded the violent agitations in 2016 in the Valley. To his contention of not providing logistical support to any terrorist organisation in the last 28 years and engaging with seven Prime Ministers for a political solution, the court reminded Malik of the hidden burden of violence, putting the onus on him for taking a ‘different path to orchestrate violence in the guise of political struggle’.