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The conviction of veteran Kashmiri freedom fighter and head of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front Yasin Malik by an Indian court on terror funding charges reflect the uncomfortable reality that New Delhi, under the BJP and its RSS-influenced mindset, has become ever more aggressive in its attempts to suppress the Kashmiri people.
Malik had been charged with terrorist acts, illegally raising funds, being a member of a ‘terrorist’ organisation and criminal conspiracy and sedition — the charges carrying a maximum sentence of the death penalty or life imprisonment. The Indian court has set May 25 as the date for Malik’s sentencing.
According to the JKLF, Yasin Malik termed the charges framed against him as fabricated and politically motivated while adding that he was willing to pay the price for seeking freedom. Pakistan has also condemned in strongest possible terms the conviction after a “sham trial” in a “manifestly dubious and motivated case”.
Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb has announced that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has directed ministries to raise the violation of Yasin Malik’s human rights after his conviction. According to Marriyum, the human rights and law ministries will devise a complete plan of action, which would cover legal and diplomatic bases, as well as those of the violations of human rights conventions and agreements, and present their recommendations to the prime minister.
The target now seems to be the Kashmiri leadership, so that no one will be ready to take up the responsibility of leading the freedom struggle. Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, another major Kashmiri leader, has also been in arbitrary detention for nearly three years. However, the fact is such methods are unlikely to extinguish the Kashmiri desire for freedom.
The Indian government, ever since Partition, has tried its best to prevent the Kashmiri people from exercising their right to self-determination. Meanwhile, the world is acting with such irresponsibility because they all know that India is a huge market with more than a billion consumers, and offending its government would have consequences.
Pakistan continues to offer its moral and diplomatic support to the Kashmiri people, but it is unlikely that the matter will move closer to settlement. Peace in Kashmir can only be achieved by involving the genuine Kashmiri leadership, with both Pakistan and India as stakeholders.
