Indian court orders life in jail for JKLF chief Yasin Malik
Malik was convicted on 19 May and was charged with 'terrorist acts', illegally raising funds, being a member of a 'terrorist' organisation and criminal conspiracy and sedition
A Delhi court on Wednesday ordered life in jail for Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Yasin Malik for funding "terrorist" activities and other charges.
Malik was convicted on 19 May and was charged with 'terrorist acts', illegally raising funds, being a member of a 'terrorist' organisation and criminal conspiracy and sedition. He however pleaded guilty to all charges after they were framed in March. He told the court he would not challenge any of the charges, Hindustan Times reported.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
Malik, earlier told a special court designated for the National Investigation Agency that he had been following Gandhian principles and non-violent politics after giving up arms in the 1990s.
"Life imprisonment sentence to the convict, Yasin Malik," Special Judge Parveen Singh said in the court in New Delhi.
Malik's wife Mushaal Hussein Mullick said the sentencing was illegitimate. "Verdict in minutes by Indian kangaroo court," she wrote on Twitter. "The iconic leader will never surrender.", DAWN reported.
In Kashmir's main city of Srinagar, police fired tear gas and pellets to disperse stone-pelting protesters outside Malik's residence.Meanwhile, Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari strongly condemned the sentencing of the Kashmiri leader in a "sham trial".
Shehbaz called it a "black day" for the Indian justice system and said the life imprisonment for a valiant freedom fighter will provide fresh impetus to Kashmiris' right to self-determination.
The JKLF was one of the first armed groups to come into existence in occupied Kashmir. Led by Malik, the group gave up armed resistance in 1994.
