Kashmir based parties seek review of Yasin Malik case

Srinagar: A Day after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) approached the Delhi High Court seeking death penalty for the Kashmiri separatist leader and Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chief Yasin Malik, Peoples Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti said the case must be "reviewed & reconsidered".
While Mufti’s former party colleague Altaf Bukari said “deterrent measures” should be taken against those “trying to threaten” the country's security, the Peoples Conference chairman Sajad Lone termed the NIA plea as “dangerous”.
The NIA on Friday approached the Delhi High Court seeking the death penalty for Yasin Malik who was convicted in connection with a terror funding case. The court will hear the matter on Monday. Malik was sentenced to life imprisonment by a special NIA court in May last year after he pleaded guilty in the case.
“NIA’s plea demanding the death penalty for Yasin Malik highlights the urgency to address militant funding in Jammu and Kashmir. We must ensure justice prevails and deterrent measures should be taken against those who are trying to threaten our nation’s security,” Apni Party chief Altaf Bukhari said on Twitter.
PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti reacted sharply to the tweet from J&K Apni Party leader Altaf Bukhari, which he has since deleted, and said the new political ikhwan (renegade) gleefully supporting his hanging were a grave threat to “our collective rights”.
“In a democracy like India where even the assassins of a PM were pardoned, the case of a political prisoner like Yasin Malik must be reviewed & reconsidered. The new political ikhwan gleefully supporting his hanging are a grave threat to our collective rights, ”she tweeted.
The Additional spokesperson for the National Conference, Sara Hayat Shah, said Malik deserves a “fair trial” and “not a decision based on liking/disliking.”
“Death penalty for Yasin Malik is not going to benefit anyone,” she said.
Peoples Conference chairman Sajad Lone termed the NIA plea on Malik as dangerous and said the people of J&K need oxygen from the rest of the country as they are gasping for political breath.
“…every situation has a short term and a long term. Let the short term enforced calm not blind you to the possible long term turbulence,” Lone said in a statement.
Lone stated that nine FIRs were filed against Malik “when he had not even seen a gun."
“All FIRs pertaining to elections, but given an anti-national form and shape,” he said
The PC chief, without naming the National Conference and former chief minister, said the party was responsible for pushing youth like Yasin Malik to take up arms.
“Let Kashmiris live in peace. No more experiments. We need oxygen from the rest of the country as we are gasping for political breath. We cannot afford Kashmir being the oxygen for the political landscape in the rest of the country. Reminds me of Afzal Guroo and Congress’s hurry to execute him,” he said.