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Yasin Malik to go on hunger strike from July 22 over ‘fair trial’, says JKLF
Yasin Malik is the chief of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, which was banned by the Indian government in 2019
Jailed Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik has threatened to go on a hunger strike from July 22 in Delhi’s Tihar jail if his demands for a ‘fair trial’ and ensuring ‘physical presence in the courts’ was not fulfilled, the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) said in an official statement on Monday.
Malik is the chief of the JKLF, which was banned by the Indian government in 2019.
The separatist leader is serving a life sentence in connection with a terror funding case, while the trial against him and his aides is going on in two other cases – the 1989 kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed, daughter of then Union home minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, and killing of four Indian Air Force (IAF) officials in 1990.
Last week, Malik moved an application to the central government seeking personal appearance in the two cases.
The statement quoted JKLF spokesperson Muhammad Rafiq Dar saying that a meeting of the “supreme council” of JKLF termed the non-presentation of Malik in courts as “illegal, inhumane and undemocratic”.
“For this reason, Muhammad Yasin Malik has decided to undergo a hunger strike from July 22 in Tihar Jail with demands such as a fair hearing and his physical presence in the court,” the statement said, adding that Malik has informed the Indian government about it through a letter sent via jail authorities.
“This was revealed by Yasin Malik on July 13 before the learned judge during his online appearance from Tihar jail in Air Force Case that he has written to Government of India that if his just and legal demands of fair trial and personal presentation in the courts are not accepted then he has no other option but to go for a hunger strike in the jail,” the statement said.
Also Read:Rubaiya Sayeed identifies Yasin Malik, three others as her abductors
Dar said that Malik originally decided to begin the hunger strike from July 12, a day before the last court hearing, which he postponed for 10 days on the request of jail authorities so that they had some time to take up the issue with concerned higher authorities.
“It was unanimously decided in the meeting of the Supreme Council that as an expression of solidarity with Muhammad Yasin Malik, JKLF besides Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi will hold token hunger strike camps in AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan on 21st, 22nd and 23rd July,” the statement said.
In March 2020, a TADA court in Jammu framed charges against Malik and six others allegedly involved in the killing of four unarmed IAF officials, including squadron leader Ravi Khanna, in 1990 in Srinagar.
Last week, Rubaiya Sayeed identified Yasin Malik before a special court in Jammu in the high-profile abduction case of 1989.
Sayeed was kidnapped by the JKLF on 8 December 1989 when her father was the Union home minister in the VP Singh-led central government. Five jailed militants were released to secure her safe return. She was released on December 13.
On January 11, 2021, the TADA court ordered that relevant charges be pressed against Malik and nine others in the abduction case.
