The Kashmir Pulse

SRINAGAR — The Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, announced on Saturday the declaration of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (Mohammad Yasin Malik faction) as an 'unlawful association' under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, effective immediately.

Home Minister Amit Shah stated that the Modi government has extended the ban on the 'Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (Mohammad Yasin Malik faction)' for an additional five years, citing the organization's involvement in activities that foster 'terrorism' and separatism in the region.

The outlawed group's activities are deemed detrimental to the security, sovereignty, and integrity of the nation, warned Shah, emphasizing that severe legal consequences await those who challenge the nation's stability.

SRINAGAR — National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday attached the property of the founder and chief commander of Al-Umar Mujahideen, Mushtaq Ahmad Zargar alias Mushtaq Latram in Nowhatta area of Srinagar.

In a statement issued to the news agency KNO, a spokesperson said Zargar was released along with Masood Azhar in exchange for passengers of the hijacked Indian Airlines flight at Kandahar in 1999.

The statement reads that Zargar was also involved in the kidnapping of former Union Home Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s daughter, Rubaiya Sayeed in 1989.

“Zargar’s two marlas house at Ganai Mohalla, Nowhatta, Srinagar, has been attached under the provisions of UA(P)A. The procedure was carried out today by a team of NIA along with the representative of district administration and local police,” it reads.

It added Zargar is a designated individual terrorist under the UA(P) Act and has been operating from Pakistan ever since his release.

“Zargar was earlier associated with Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front and was responsible for several terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir. He has also been involved in other heinous crimes, including murders, and has a close association with other terror outfits such as Al-Qaeda and JeM,” it reads.

The statement reads that Zargar grew up in Nowhatta and joined JKLF. “In 1989, he was one of the members who kidnapped Rubaiya Sayeed and negotiated her release in exchange for five terrorists.”

It added that he was arrested on May 15, 1992 and was released from jail on December 31, 1999 as part of the Indian Airlines Flight hostage exchange deal.

SRINAGAR — A court in Jammu on Wednesday issued a production warrant against Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Muhammad Yasin Malik, directing the Tihar jail authorities to produce him physically before it on the next date of hearing in the Rubaiya Sayeed abduction case.

Talking to the news agency KNO, advocate Monika Kohli, CBI counsel in the case, said the TADA court has issued a production warrant against Malik and directed the Tihar jail authorities to produce him before it on the next date of the hearing. “The next date of hearing is scheduled on October 20,” she said.

Malik had requested the court to allow him to appear physically to cross-examine witnesses in the case.

The CBI counsel said lawyers of other accused in the case cross-examined Rubaiya Sayeed today.

On July 15, Rubaiya identified Yasin Malik, who has been sentenced to life imprisonment in another case and is currently lodged in Tihar jail, as his abductor in 1989.

PDP chief and former CM Mehbooba Mufti had defended the identification of Yasin Malik by her sister, saying she did her duty as per the law.

Rubaiya was kidnapped on December 8, 1989, and was set free five days later in exchange for the release of five militants of JKLF.

JAMMU — A court in Jammu on Tuesday issued a bailable warrant against Rubaiya Sayeed after she did not appear for her cross-examination by JKLF chief Muhammad Yasin Malik, whom she had identified as her abductor during the last hearing of the case.

Talking to the news agency KNO, Advocate Monika Kohli, the special public prosecutor for CBI, said that Rubaiya Sayeed did not appear in the TADA court for her cross-examination by the accused.

“The court has issued a bailable warrant against her and directed her to remain present on the next date of the hearing scheduled on September 21,” she said.

In July this year, Rubaiya identified Yasin Malik as one of her kidnappers in 1989. Rubaiya was kidnapped in December 1989 when her father, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, was the Union Home Minister.

The CBI counsel said the court today also turned down Yasin Malik’s plea for physical appearance, saying there were directions from the High Court to produce all the accused in all the cases through virtual mode. She said the court also offered Malik legal aid but he refused the offer.

Delhi Court awards life sentence to Kashmiri Separatist Leader Yasin Malik in Jammu & Kashmir terror funding case.

BARAMULLA — Minister of State (MoS) for Cooperation and Development of North Eastern Region Government of India, BL Verma, on Wednesday said that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is fighting for justice for Kashmiri Pandits, who had been victimized in Jammu and Kashmir.

Speaking to the news agency Kashmir News Observer (KNO) at Dak Banglow Baramulla, Verma said that BJP is fighting hard for the legal rights and justice of Kashmiri Pandits.

About Mohammad Yasin Malik, who pleaded guilty to all the charges including those under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) before a Delhi court, he said that they will accept whatever the court decides regarding Malik as his party respects the judiciary and its decision.

Notably, the court will hear on May 19 the arguments on the quantum of the sentence under which Malik may get a punishment.

SRINAGAR — Srinagar Sessions Court on Tuesday adjourned the hearing of former militant Bitta Karate, after the lawyer appearing for the petitioner claimed that Jammu and Kashmir Police didn’t provide him security despite Supreme Court order.

Pertinently, the trial proceedings against the former Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front Commander had begun nearly after 31 years following a plea filed by the Pandit family of Satish Tickoo.

Advocate Utsav Bains had filed the application on behalf of the family of Satish Kumar Tickoo in Srinagar Sessions Court for status reports of all the FIRs registered against Farooq Ahmed Dar alias Bitta Karate, who has already been bailed out by the Supreme Court of India.

The case was supposed to be heard today in the court of First Additional Sessions Judge, Srinagar. However, Advocate Utsav Bains sought adjournment for Criminal Revision No. 138 of 2022, citing security reasons.

In a letter to First Additional Sessions Judge, Srinagar, a copy of which lies with the news agency Kashmir News Trust, Advocate Utsav Bains claimed that he left back for Delhi from Srinagar Airport after he was not provided security.

The letter reads that as no security was provided to Advocate Utsav Bains by Jammu & Kashmir Police today in spite of orders by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, the learned advocate has to, unfortunately, return back to Delhi after landing at the Srinagar Airport today at 9 AM.

“It is requested to your lordship to please adjourn today’s hearing in Criminal Revision No. 138 of 2022 in the interest of justice,” concludes the letter.

Pertinently, on July 24, 2017, the Supreme Court of India had dismissed a plea filed by the Kashmiri Pandit NGO ‘Roots in Kashmir’, saying it is difficult to hold any probe and collect evidence on incidents that are more than 27 years old after the migration of Kashmiri Pandits from Valley.

NEW DELHI — A Special NIA Court on Monday said that it will frame formal charges against Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik and others on April 18 in connection with a militancy funding case.

On the last date of hearing on March 19, the court ordered the framing of charges against Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) founder Hafiz Saeed, Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin and others for hatching a criminal conspiracy, waging war against the country and other unlawful activities.

Kashmiri separatist leaders, including Yasin Malik, Shabbir Shah, Masarat Alam, former MLA Rashid Engineer, businessman Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali, Bitta Karate, Aftab Ahmad Shah, Avatar Ahmad Shah, Naeem Khan, Bashir Ahmed Bhat alias Peer Saifullah and several others have also been framed under charges for criminal conspiracy, waging war against the country and other unlawful activities.

In the order dated March 16, the NIA special Judge Praveen Singh had said: “The above analysis reflects that the statements of witnesses and documentary evidence have connected almost all the accused with each other and to a common object of secession, to the commonality of means they were to use, their close association to terrorists/terrorist organisations under the guiding hand and funding of Pakistani establishment.”

Notably, the court has discharged three, namely Kamran Yusuf, Javed Ahmad Bhatt and Syedah Aasiya Firdous Andrabi.

The case is related to the various militant outfits Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Hizbul-Mujahideen (HM), Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) backed by Islamic State which were perpetrating militant and secessionist activities to disturb Jammu and Kashmir.

SRINAGAR — The trial against Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) leader Farooq Ahmed Dar started at Srinagar's Sessions Court.

Farooq Ahmed Dar alias Bitta Karate is accused of killing over a dozen Kashmiri Pandits during the hey-days of militancy in Kashmir valley.

Bitta Karate spent 16 years in jail and was released on bail in 2006. The order for his release came from the Supreme Court of India. The court released Karate on bail under the Public Safety Act (PSA).

He was arrested in 2019 for his alleged role in militant funding and has been in jail ever since.

The family of a slain Pandit, Satish Tickoo, moved to the Srinagar Sessions Court through Advocate Utsav Bains. The Sessions Court attended the case, seeking all the details pertaining to the case from the government.

The Counsel for the Tickoo’s family, as per the news agency Kashmir News Trust, said that a physical hearing took place in Srinagar Sessions Court and the court sought details from the government.

He said the Supreme Court while releasing the Bitta Karate had maintained that the prosecution failed to show an interest in the case and didn’t come up with the proper pieces of evidence.

Pertinently, when in custody, Bitta Karate in an interaction with a journalist had admitted that he killed some Kashmiri Pandits.