New Delhi<\/p>\n
Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) Chairman Yasin Malik, who is serving a life sentence in a terror funding case, has made explosive claims in a sworn affidavit submitted to the Delhi High Court. Malik alleges that former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh \u201cpersonally thanked and expressed gratitude\u201d to him for holding a meeting with Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed as part of a backchannel initiative endorsed by Indian intelligence.<\/p>\n
According to NDTV, which first reported on the affidavit, Malik insists the 2005 meeting with Saeed was \u201cnot an independent initiative\u201d but carried out \u201cat the request\u201d of senior Intelligence Bureau officials after the Kashmir earthquake. Malik claims that then\u2013IB Special Director V.K. Joshi urged him to engage both jihadi commanders and Pakistani political leadership to support Singh\u2019s \u201cpeace efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n
The affidavit states that Hafiz Saeed subsequently convened a gathering of anti-India groups where Malik delivered a speech urging militants to embrace peace and abandon violence on Islamic grounds. Malik contends this speech was later twisted into evidence of his alleged terror links \u2014 which he calls a \u201cbetrayal,\u201d arguing it had in fact been sanctioned as part of the government\u2019s peace outreach.<\/p>\n
After his return to New Delhi, Malik says he was debriefed by IB officials and then escorted to meet Manmohan Singh at the Prime Minister\u2019s residence. He claims Singh, in the presence of then National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan, \u201cconveyed his gratitude\u201d for Malik\u2019s efforts in engaging even the most hardline elements. Malik goes further, asserting that Singh described him as the \u201cfather of the non-violent movement in Kashmir.\u201d<\/p>\n
Malik also cited long-standing contacts with Indian political leadership across parties, claiming he was repeatedly engaged by governments from V.P. Singh through Atal Bihari Vajpayee to Singh, and was \u201cactively persuaded\u201d to project the Kashmiri cause on domestic and international platforms.<\/p>\n
The affidavit reignites controversy around Malik, who has been convicted for terror financing and stands accused of multiple crimes, including the killing of four Indian Air Force officers in 1990 and the kidnapping of Rubiya Sayeed, daughter of former Union Home Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.<\/p>\n
Reacting to the revelations, BJP National General Secretary Tarun Chugh said Malik\u2019s statement shows that a convicted terrorist was \u201cnegotiating with India\u2019s most wanted terrorists at the behest of the Congress-led central government,\u201d accusing the UPA regime of legitimizing separatists under the guise of dialogue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New Delhi Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) Chairman Yasin Malik, who is serving a life sentence in a terror funding case, has made explosive claims in a sworn affidavit submitted to the Delhi High Court. Malik alleges that former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh \u201cpersonally thanked and expressed gratitude\u201d to him for holding a meeting …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":50158,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[81],"class_list":["post-50157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-story","tag-headline"],"yoast_head":"\n