Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Yasin Malik sentenced to life imprisonment: Pak PM Shehbaz Sharif hit out, says it's 'black day' for Indian democracy

Mobile internet services were suspended in Kashmir as a precautionary measure

Yasin Malik sentenced to life imprisonment: Pak PM Shehbaz Sharif hit out, says it's 'black day' for Indian democracy

AN INDIAN court on Wednesday (25) ordered life in jail for Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik for funding "terrorist" activities and many other charges, prompting street protests outside his residence and condemnation from Pakistan's prime minister.

Malik, head of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), had pleaded guilty to the charges but on Wednesday told the special court where his trial was held that he had been practising non-violent politics in Kashmir after giving up arms in the 1990s.

Mainly Hindu India has been fighting an armed militancy in Muslim-majority Kashmir, also claimed by neighbouring Pakistan, for decades.

"It is high time that it is recognised that terror funding is one of the gravest offences and has to be punished more severely," special judge Parveen Singh said in the court in New Delhi, announcing Malik's life imprisonment under a section of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.

The court is designated for cases brought by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which mainly handles offences deemed to affect the sovereignty, security and integrity of India.

According to the Indian government, Malik had been at the "fore-front of separatist activities and violence since 1988" in the Kashmir valley. It says many Kashmiri Hindus had to flee because of violence committed against them by Malik's group in 1989.

Malik, who was convicted last week, had pleaded guilty to the 10 charges brought against him by the NIA, including waging or attempting to wage war against the government, and helping raise funds for anyone to "commit a terrorist act".

The court said Malik "did not want any trial and therefore, he was ready to plead guilty".

His wife Mushaal Hussein Mullick said the sentencing was illegitimate.

"Verdict in minutes by Indian kangaroo court," she wrote on Twitter. "The iconic leader will never surrender."

In Kashmir's main city of Srinagar, police fired tear gas and pellets to disperse stone-pelting protesters outside Malik's residence.

Mobile internet services were suspended in Kashmir as a precautionary measure.

Pakistan prime minister Shehbaz Sharif said it was a "black day" for Indian democracy and its justice system.


"India can imprison Yasin Malik physically but it can never imprison idea of freedom he symbolises," Sharif said on Twitter.

India declared JKLF an "unlawful association" in 2019, the year when prime minister Narendra Modi's government split the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two federally controlled territories.

Political parties in Kashmir said Malik's verdict was a setback to peace efforts.

"We are afraid that this will further compound the uncertainties in the region and will only fuel more alienation and separatist feelings," a group of parties that have in the past fought elections in Kashmir said in a statement.

More For You

Sara Sharif e1692881096452

Sara was discovered dead in her bunkbed on 10 August 2023.

Sara was discovered dead in her bunkbed on 10 August 2023.

'Chatterbox with biggest smile': Headteacher pays tribute to Sara Sharif

SARA SHARIF, a ten-year-old girl who suffered fatal abuse at the hands of her father and stepmother, is being remembered as a cheerful and caring pupil with a love for singing.

Her father, Urfan Sharif, 42, and stepmother, Beinash Batool, 30, were found guilty on 11 December of her murder at their home in Woking, Surrey, on 8 August 2023. Sara’s uncle, Faisal Malik, 29, was convicted of causing or allowing the death of a child.

Keep ReadingShow less
Healthcare workers hold placards as they demonstrate on Westminster Bridge, near to St Thomas' Hospital in London on May 1, 2023. (Photo: Getty Images)
Healthcare workers hold placards as they demonstrate on Westminster Bridge, near to St Thomas' Hospital in London on May 1, 2023. (Photo: Getty Images)

Teachers, nurses warn of strikes over 2.8 per cent pay rise proposal

TEACHERS and nurses may strike after the government recommended a 2.8 per cent pay rise for public sector workers for the next financial year.

Ministers cautioned that higher pay awards would require cuts in Whitehall budgets.

Keep ReadingShow less
A man walks past a mural that says ‘Northern Ireland’, on Sandy Row in Belfast, Northern Ireland, August 11, 2024. (Photo: Reuters)
A man walks past a mural that says ‘Northern Ireland’, on Sandy Row in Belfast, Northern Ireland, August 11, 2024. (Photo: Reuters)

Northern Ireland approves extension of post-Brexit trade rules

NORTHERN Ireland’s devolved government has voted to continue implementing post-Brexit trading arrangements under the Windsor Framework, a deal signed between London and the European Union in February 2023.

The vote in the Northern Ireland Assembly at Stormont extended the arrangement for four years.

Keep ReadingShow less
'Covid bereavement rates in Scotland highest among Asians'
Ethnic groups were found to be two-and-a-half times more likely to have experienced the loss of a close family member.

'Covid bereavement rates in Scotland highest among Asians'

THE bereavement rates due to Covid in Scotland have been highest among those identifying with ‘Any other’ ethnic group (68 per cent), followed by Indians (44 per cent) and Pakistanis (38 per cent), a new study revealed. This is significantly higher than the national average of around 25 per cent.

Ethnic groups were found to be two-and-a-half times more likely to have experienced the loss of a close family member during the Covid crisis.

Keep ReadingShow less
Harmeet Dhillon gives a benediction at the end of the first day of the 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin,  on July 15, 2024. (Photo: Getty Images)
Harmeet Dhillon gives a benediction at the end of the first day of the 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 15, 2024. (Photo: Getty Images)

Trump nominates Harmeet Dhillon for top Department of Justice role

US PRESIDENT-ELECT Donald Trump has nominated Indian-American attorney Harmeet K Dhillon as assistant attorney general for civil rights at the Department of Justice.

“I am pleased to nominate Harmeet K Dhillon as assistant attorney general for civil rights at the US Department of Justice,” Trump announced on Monday on Truth Social, his social media platform.

Keep ReadingShow less