Pakistan condemns Kashmiri leader Yasin Malik’s conviction by Indian court

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has strongly condemned another abhorrent attempt of the Indian government to deprive the Kashmiri people of their true leadership in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).

Foreign Office Spokesperson said that in a highly reprehensible development, Hurriyat leader Yasin Malik had been convicted in a manifestly dubious and motivated case, dating back to 2017, filed against him by National Investigation Agency (NIA).

Predictably, the one-sided case had not only convicted Yasin Malik on fictitious charges in defiance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) but also attempted to make conjectural insinuations about Pakistan, the spokesperson added.

It added that the “renewed haste with which cases against Kashmiri leadership were being pursued further exposed the nefarious Indian designs to undermine historic and distinct political and cultural identity of IIOJK”.

“The conviction of Yasin Malik and conjuring up of motivated cases against the Kashmiri leadership was patently the continuation of the malicious Indian campaign to deprive the Kashmiris of their true leadership.”

“The inhuman incarceration of Yasin Malik in the infamous Tihar jail, his sham trial in concocted cases, fallacious conviction, and malfeasant attempts at defiling the legitimate struggle of the Kashmiris for their right to self-determination as “terrorism” further illustrate India as a serial violator of human rights and usurper of the fundamental rights of the Kashmiris.”

The spokesperson said the struggle for the right of self-determination in Kashmir was indigenous and could not be dampened by the draconian strong-arm tactics of the Indian Government.

Pakistan urges the Indian government to refrain from victimizing the true representatives of the Kashmiri people through inhuman detentions and trumped up charges.

“India must release all political prisoners detained on trumped-up charges, stop human rights violations in IIOJK, lift the brutal military siege, and let the Kashmiri people exercise their right to self-determination in accordance with their aspirations and relevant UN Security Council resolutions,” the Foreign Office said.

Pakistan also urged the international community to counsel India to drop all fabricated charges against all political leaders of IIOJK including Yasin Malik, ensure their safety and well-being, and provide them complete legal protections, including the right to a free and fair trial.

Indian court conviction

An Indian court on Thursday convicted top Kashmiri leader Yasin Malik in a terrorism-related case that carries a maximum sentence of the death penalty or life imprisonment.

Malik had been charged with ‘terrorist acts’, illegally raising funds, being a member of a ‘terrorist’ organisation and criminal conspiracy and sedition.

The presiding judge set May 25 for hearing arguments from both sides on sentencing. The judge also directed Malik to provide an affidavit regarding his financial assets.

During the trial, Malik protested the charges and said he was a freedom fighter. “Terrorism-related charges levelled against me are concocted, fabricated and politically motivated,” he was cited as telling the court. “If seeking azadi (freedom) is a crime, then I am ready to accept this crime and its consequences,” he told the judge.

The Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front was one of the first armed freedom fighting groups to come into existence in Indian-occupied Kashmir (IoK). It supported an independent and united Kashmir and gave up armed resistance in 1994.