Yasin Malik, the jailed leader of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), has made new controversial claims in an affidavit to the Delhi High Court. He said that in 2006, he met Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed in Pakistan on the instructions of Indian intelligence officers. Malik, who is serving a life sentence for terror funding, also claimed that former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh personally thanked him after this meeting with Hafiz Saeed, the 26/11 Mumbai attack mastermind.
According to NDTV, Yasin Malik made these claims in an affidavit filed in the Delhi High Court on April 25. Malik is currently serving a life sentence in a terror funding case. He said that his meeting with Hafiz Saeed was not his personal choice but was organised at the request of senior Indian intelligence officers. He added that this was part of a secret peace effort with Pakistan.
What He Said in the Affidavit?
Before visiting Pakistan after the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, Yasin Malik said he was approached in Delhi by V K Joshi, then Special Director of the Intelligence Bureau (IB). Joshi asked Malik to meet not only Pakistani politicians but also terrorist figures, including Hafiz Saeed, to support a peace process led by then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Malik said he was told that talks with Pakistan would not matter unless extremist leaders were included. Based on this, he agreed to meet Saeed and other members of the United Jihad Council during an event in Pakistan.
During the meeting, Saeed organized a large gathering of jihadist groups, and Malik spoke to the crowd. He said he urged militants to choose peace, using Islamic teachings to say, “if somebody offers you peace, purchase peace with him.”
Years later, this meeting was used as evidence of Malik’s links to Pakistani terror groups. Malik called it a “classic betrayal,” saying it was a government-backed mission that was later misused for political purposes.
