Yasin Malik claims Manmohan Singh thanked him for introducing Hafiz Saeed, Says IB sought meeting with terror leaders

Malik claimed that the meeting took place in 2006 during his trip to Pakistan, which followed the 2005 Kashmir earthquake. He alleged that the meeting with Hafiz Saeed was not his initiative but was arranged at the request of officials from the Intelligence Bureau (IB) as part of a secret peace process with Pakistan.

The JKLF leader alleged that IB officials had conveyed to him that peace talks with Pakistan would prove meaningless unless prominent terrorist leaders were also engaged. He specifically named former IB Special Director V.K. Joshi, who, he claimed, met him in Delhi and urged him to meet Pakistani political as well as terror leaders, including Saeed, to support then Prime Minister Singh’s peace efforts.

Yasin Malik is currently lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail in a terror-funding case. His son, Ghulam Qadir Malik, is also imprisoned there.

Who is Yasin Malik?

Yasin Malik joined the JKLF in 1988 after the disputed 1987 J&K Assembly elections. Following the death of JKLF chief Ashfaq Majid in 1990, Malik took over leadership of the outfit. Arrested the same year, he was chargesheeted by the CBI but later released in 1994. In 1995, he split the JKLF into two factions Malik leading the non-violent separatist wing, while Amanullah Khan headed the armed group.

Malik’s explosive claims have reignited debate about the role of separatist leaders, Pakistan-backed terror outfits, and India’s peace initiatives during the Manmohan Singh era.