Met Atal Behari Vajpayee in 1995, year after release from jail, claims Yasin Malik
Currently lodged in Tihar Jail, Malik’s affidavit, filed on August 25, claims closed-door meetings with top government representatives
A year after Kashmiri separatist and then commander-in-chief of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Force Yasin Malik was released from jail in 1994, he claimed to have met former PM Atal Behari Vajpayee.
“When I first met Atal Bihari Vajpayee (post my release in 1994), when he was leader of opposition in 1995. I was a young boy, your country had promised us to give us a democratic right but when we are asking for it, your forces are killing our people. In return his reply was so polite, he replied –– Yasin ji, kaache dhaage kaa hee sahi, hamare saath koi naa koi rishta zaroor rakhen (even if it is a fragile thread, do stay connected with us), and this had disarmed me.”
This revelation is part of an affidavit submitted by Malik in the Delhi high court which contains details of his apparent meetings with former prime ministers, Union ministers, foreign diplomats, top Intelligence Bureau (IB) officials, and others involved in the central government’s efforts to maintain peace in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K).
Malik also wrote that he met Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist Hafiz Saeed, claiming the meeting took place at the behest of senior IB officials in India. Saeed is a designated terrorist and the alleged mastermind behind multiple terror attacks, including the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.
On August 11, the National Investigation Agency(NIA) sought the death penalty for the separatist leader in a terror funding case. The court granted Malik four weeks to file his response and posted the matter for November 10. The government says Malik, sentenced to life imprisonment in 2022, was involved in activities that were a threat to the country’s sovereignty and was closely linked to militancy in J&K.
Currently lodged in Tihar Jail, Malik’s affidavit, filed on August 25, claims closed-door meetings with top government representatives, as well as apparent interactions with prominent figures, including Reliance Industries founder Dhirubhai Ambani.
He said that in 2000, RK Mishra invited him to his residence in Vasant Vihar. “ In the meeting, Mr. RK Mishra made me speak to Dhirubhai Ambani on phone call where apart from exchanging pleasantries…we discussed our respective humble background.”
Malik said that successive Union governments honoured the ceasefire agreement with him following his decision to renounce an armed struggle in 1994. He was also granted bail in 32 pending militancy cases. “None of these cases against me were pursued, thereafter, in terms of understanding under the ceasefire agreement, during the dispensations of Shri. PV Narasimha Rao. The promise was kept by every single dispensation of the Indian government, including by the PM Shri Narendra Modi in his first phase till 2019,” the affidavit said.
He said after being arrested in 1990, he was shifted to a guest house in Mehrauli, where then Border Security Force (BSF) chief, Ashok Patel, an IB special director and police chief JN Saxena, met him. “They tried their level best to convince me to have dinner with the then PM Shri Chandrashekhar. I vehemently refused and after my repetitive refusals, I was shifted to the central jail in Agra,” he said in the affidavit.
Malik also stated that after his health deteriorated in Agra Jail and he was moved to a bungalow in Mehrauli, the government sent then home minister Rajesh Pilot, two governors, and senior officials for dialogue. Malik said that after three years of such negotiations, he was released from prison in May 1994.
“In the year 2000-2001, then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee declared Ramzan ceasefire. Then special IB director Mr. Ajit Kumar Doval met me in New Delhi and arranged a meeting for me with IB director Mr. Shyamal Dutta and Mr, Brajesh Mishra, NSA to the then PM independently. They both stated that our PM is serious in the talks process to resolve the Kashmir issue, and that I should support his Ramzan ceasefire,” he said.
Malik also claimed that after the Ramzan ceasefire pact was broken, he met former PM Manmohan Singh at a meeting. The 85-page affidavit also detailed another meeting with Manmohan Singh.
“In February 2006, I was invited by PM Manmohan Singh in New Delhi for formal dialogue….During the meeting, the Indian premier told me that India was trying hard to resolve the Kashmir issue…PM Manmohan Singh told me. “Be assured Mr. Malik, I want to resolve this issue.”
Malik has claimed that he met Hafiz Saeed on the instruction of IB to work towards peace and even debriefed former PM Manmohan Singh later.
Malik said that he had informed the trial court about his scheduled visit to Pakistan to carry out humanitarian aid and relief work after the earthquake. “I was specifically requested for this meeting with Hafiz Saeed and other militant leaders of Pakistan…When I returned to New Delhi from Pakistan…I met PM Manmohan Singh the same evening…I briefed him on my meetings…he conveyed his gratitude to me for my efforts, time, patience and dedication. But as luck would have it, this meeting of mine with Hafiz Saeed and other militant leaders of Pakistan which was initiated and executed only on the request of special director IB VK Joshi, was portrayed in a different context against me.”
