Imprisoned J&K Separatist Leader Yasin Malik To Go On 'Fast Unto Death' in Jail

'He (Malik) said that this is his last resort and called it a farewell,' the separatist leader's sister said.

Yasin Malik.

(Photo: PTI)

The family of Yasin Malik said on Thursday, 21 July, that the imprisoned Jammu and Kashmir separatist leader has decided to go on a "fast unto death" from Friday.

Malik's sister Abida said while addressing the press in Srinagar that she had received a will from the former chief of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) after she met him in prison last week.

In the will, Malik reiterated that he had perceived non-violent struggle as a "powerful force."

"For me, the challenge has always been to find creative ways of carving out non-violent struggle in the face of violent state oppression, violence fixated news media. Therefore, having complete faith in the non-violent institution, I have decided to go in the fasting to death from 22 July 2022," his will read, as per Newsclick.

His sister also said that she and her mother had tried convincing the 56-year-old to not go through with the hunger strike, but he refused.

"He (Malik) said this is his last resort and called it a farewell," Abida added.

Rubaiya Sayeed Identifies Malik as One of Her Abductors

This comes only a few days after Rubaiya Sayeed, the daughter of the late Home Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, identified Malik as one of the people who had kidnapped her in 1989.

Sayeed was held captive for several days and was finally exchanged for five JKLF militants.

The case had been shelved for years until it was revived after Malik was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in 2019 on the charge of terror funding.

Malik, however, claimed that he had been deprived of the right to defend himself.

"I have still been deliberately deprived of the basic right to defend myself which construes a straight violation of Article 114 and Article 21 of the Constitution.” the former separatist leader said in his will.

Malik has also been pleading his own cases, and has argued that a case with the "life of a man on the line" that attracts "nothing but capital punishment" must be treated with immense seriousness.

"To call for my virtual presence via video-conferencing only when the case for which I am being tried has reached a critical level that the prosecution witness is being exhibited, it is tantamount to nothing but malicious and vindictive prosecution," Malik added, as per Newsclick.

Malik's Conviction in the Terror Funding Case

A special NIA court had in May handed two life imprisonments to Malik in a terror funding case.

"Two life imprisonments have been given to Yasin Malik, besides that 10 years of rigorous imprisonment in 10 offences and Rs 10 lakh penalty, all the punishments will run concurrently," Advocate Umesh Sharma said.

Malik was convicted by a special NIA court on 19 May, a week after he pleaded guilty.

Before his sentencing, the JKLF leader had told the court that he had started following "Gandhian principles" after abandoning violence.

"After dropping weapons, I have followed principles of Mahatma Gandhi. Since then, I have been following non-violent politics in Kashmir," he had said.

(With inputs from Newsclick.)