SRINAGAR: Former J&K CM and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti wrote to home minister Amit Shah on Friday, taking up cudgels on behalf of jailed separatist Yasin Malik and seeking “a compassionate and urgent review” of the terror funding case against him on grounds of what she described as “his long-standing commitment to non-violence”.“Over the years, Malik engaged in dialogue involving senior officials, intelligence personnel, and even controversial figures like Hafiz Saeed, all with the tacit consent of Indian agencies. These efforts represented a painstaking and deliberate attempt to build bridges in a deeply fractured land,” Mehbooba said, referring to Malik’s recent affidavit in Delhi high court.
The PDP president, whose many controversies include her claim that J&K accepted the Indian tricolour in 1947 on certain conditions and constitutional guarantees, said she was writing to Shah “not merely as a witness but as someone who has lived through the turbulent times of Kashmir, bearing its grief, enduring its silences, and holding on to its fragile hopes”.She claimed Malik’s journey was no secret. “In 1994, he took a courageous and rare decision to lay down arms and embrace political, non-violent means to pursue change. According to his sworn affidavits, this shift was neither unilateral nor impulsive but encouraged and facilitated through back-channel understandings with Indian agencies,” the letter states.In his affidavit, Malik spoke of his involvement in backchannel diplomacy, including private meetings with PMs, ministers and intelligence chiefs. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison by an NIA court on charges of receiving foreign funding and collaborating with terrorist groups. NIA has since appealed to Delhi HC to turn his life term into death penalty.“This appeal does not seek to undermine the judiciary’s authority but calls for the responsible exercise of democratic instruments to honour both justice and mercy. The spirit of India, I firmly believe, lies in our capacity to show magnanimity and uphold promises made in pursuit of peace,” Mehbooba’s letter pleads.Peoples Conference chief and MLA Sajad Lone accused the ex-CM of “hypocrisy”. He said seeking clemency for Malik, chairperson of the banned Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, amounted to “mere theatrics”.
