Yasin Malik, jailed chief of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) and serving a life sentence in a terror funding case, has made startling revelations in an affidavit submitted to the Delhi High Court. Malik alleged that his 2006 meeting in Pakistan with Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed, who masterminded the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, was conducted under instructions from India’s Intelligence Bureau (IB), as part of a backchannel peace process, and not on his own initiative.
According to Malik, he was summoned by VK Joshi, then Special Director of IB, in Delhi following the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, and tasked with engaging not only Pakistani political leaders but also militant figures like Saeed to lend credibility to peace efforts. Malik claimed that during the Pakistan visit, Saeed convened a gathering of jihadist groups, where Malik addressed militants urging them to embrace peace and reconciliation.
In a sensational revelation, Malik stated that upon his return to India, he briefed then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the presence of National Security Adviser MK Narayanan, who allegedly thanked him and called him the “father of the non-violent movement in Kashmir.” Malik argued that this showed government sanction for his actions, countering charges that he independently sought contact with terrorist leaders.
Malik also outlined that successive Indian governments, from VP Singh to Atal Bihari Vajpayee, had engaged him in dialogues on Kashmir, including on international platforms. His claims, if verified, could spark serious debate over India’s covert outreach to separatist and militant elements in 2006.
Given Malik’s history, which includes terror-related crimes such as the 1990 killing of four Indian Air Force officers and the abduction of former Union Home Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s daughter, his statements are expected to provoke controversy. For victims of the Kashmiri Pandit exodus, Malik remains a central figure associated with historic betrayal and violence, making these new claims highly sensitive and explosive.
