OCCUPIED SRINAGAR: A former freedom fighter and campaigner for Kashmir independence was sentenced to life imprisonment on terrorism charges Wednesday by an Indian court.
Mohammad Yasin Malik renounced violence in 1994 to campaign peacefully for the “liberation” of Kashmir, which has been split between India and Pakistan since 1947 and which both claim in full.
Last week an Indian court convicted the 56-year-old, who has spent years in prison and has been in custody since 2019, of terrorism and funding acts of terror.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA), India’s top anti-terrorism investigation body, had asked that Malik be given the death sentence, but the court instead sentenced him to life.
“We are holding a meeting today in which we will take a decision on what strategy we have to adopt following the life imprisonment of our leader,” Khawaja Saif Din, vice-chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), which Malik heads, told AFP by phone.
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“Our group was holding negotiations with the Indian government for the solution of the Kashmir issue. But today India has compelled Kashmiris to again take up arms against it, by using an undemocratic process to award life imprisonment to Yasin Malik.”
Crowds of several hundred gathered in Azad Kashmir before the sentencing was even announced, to call for Malik’s release.
Large parts of occupied Srinagar in the Indian-controlled part of the disputed region were deserted following a shutdown call by the JKLF.
Authorities severed internet connections in the city and police fired tear gas near Malik’s home to disperse scattered groups of protesters, who shouted slogans demanding his freedom.
He was first arrested in 1990 by Indian forces and has spent several years in different jails since. He has alleged he was tortured for years in various Indian detention centres.
Malik led hundreds of armed fighters until 1994 when he renounced violence and adopted peaceful, “Gandhian” ways to become the chairman of the JKLF. He has since campaigned for Kashmir’s right to self-determination.
He has had talks several times with the New Delhi government, including with two previous prime ministers.
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