Militant funding case: NIA court convicts Yasin Malik

New Delhi: A special NIA court on Thursday convicted separatist leader Yasin Malik after he pleaded guilty in a case related to militancy and secessionist activities in the Kashmir valley.
The court also sought an affidavit from Malik regarding his financial assessment and asked NIA to submit a report related to his financial assessment. Argument on sentence will take place on the next date of hearing, on May 25.
As already reported Malik had been charged for hatching a criminal conspiracy, waging war against the country, other unlawful activities and disturbing peace in Kashmir. On the last date of the hearing, he told the court that he was not contesting the charges leveled against him, including section 16 , 17, 18 , and 20 of the UAPA and sections 120-B and 124-A of the Indian Penal Code.
Several separatist leaders, including Yasin Malik, Shabbir Shah, Masarat Alam, former MLA Engineer Rasheed, Businessman Zahoor Ahmad Watali, Bitta Karate, Aftab Ahmad Shah, Avatar Ahmad Shah, Naeem Ahmad Khan, Bashir Ahmed Bhat, alias Peer Saifullah and several others have also been framed under the charges for criminal conspiracy, waging war against the country and other unlawful activities.
In the order dated March 16, the NIA special Judge Praveen Singh had said “The above analysis reflects that the statements of witnesses and documentary evidence have connected almost all the accused with each other and to a common object of secession, to the commonality of means they were to use, their close association to militant/militant organisations under the guiding hand and funding of Pakistani establishment.” Notably, the court has discharged three, namely Kamran Yusuf, Javed Ahmad Bhatt and Syedah Aasiya Firdous Andrabi. The case related to the various militant outfits Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Hizbul-Mujahideen (HM), Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) backed by Islamic State were perpetrating militant and secessionist activities to disturb Jammu and Kashmir.