Nine days after he pleaded guilty before the special National Investigating Agency (NIA) court in a terror funding case, the court on Thursday convicted separatist leader and chairman of banned Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) Yasin Malik in the same case.
The special NIA court found Malik, already lodged in Tihar jail, guilty of charges under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. The hearing on the quantum of sentence will take place on May 25. The NIA will have to assess Malik's financial situation for the same. The Court also directed Malik to furnish an affidavit regarding his financial assets by the next date of hearing.
As reported earlier, the court had framed charges in March after noting that it was prima facie established that Malik and Shabir Shah, former MLA Engineer Rashid, Altaf Fantoosh, Masrat Alam, and Hurriyat/Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) were the direct recipients of terror funds.
The Court had also noted then that Malik had set up an elaborate mechanism across the world to raise funds for carrying out terrorist and other unlawful activities in Jammu and Kashmir.
Malik pleads guilty in the same case
On May 10 Yasin Malik pleaded guilty before the NIA court in the same terror funding case. Malik may get a maximum punishment of life imprisonment.
Accused in a 2017 terror-funding case probed by the NIA Yasin Malik pleaded guilty to all charges framed against him before a special NIA court in Delhi. He has been charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for committing a terrorist act, raising funds for terrorism, being a member of a terrorist group and part of a criminal conspiracy, and for sedition.
Earlier NIA court ordered the framing of charges against Malik, and others.
On March 19, 2022, the NIA Court had ordered the framing of charges against Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) founder Hafiz Saeed and Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin, Yasin Malik, Shabbir Shah, Masarat Alam, and others under various sections of UAPA in a case pertaining to the terrorist and secessionist activities that disturbed the State of Jammu and Kashmir.
Malik was arrested on April 4, 2019, for his role in fomenting unrest in Kashmir during separatist agitations in 2010 and 2016.
The Court also ordered the framing of charges against 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 under various sections of Indian Penal Code and UAPA including criminal conspiracy, waging war against the country, unlawful activities, etc.
The NIA court observed that the money for terror funding was sent from and by Pakistan and its agencies and even the diplomatic mission was used to fulfill the evil design. Money for terror funding was also sent by proclaimed international terrorists and accused Hafiz Saeed.
According to the NIA various terrorist organizations such as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM), Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) with the support of ISI of Pakistan, perpetrated violence in the Valley by attacking civilians and security forces.
