ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Saturday wrote a letter to the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to apprise him of the circumstances of prominent Kashmiri leader Yasin Malik’s conviction in a “manifestly-dubious” and “politically-motivated” case, the Pakistani foreign office said.
Malik, 56, is the head of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), one of the first armed separatist groups in the Indian-controlled region, that supported an independent and united Kashmir. The group, however, gave up armed rebellion in 1994.
India’s National Investigation Agency arrested the Kashmiri leader in April 2019. The agency demanded death penalty for him on charges of receiving funds from Pakistan to “carry out terrorist activities and stone-pelting during the Kashmir unrest,” but a New Delhi court last month sentenced him to life in prison.
In his letter, Bhutto-Zardari said Malik’s trial and conviction were part of India’s attempts to “persecute and repress the Kashmiris and their leadership and to implicate them in fictitious and motivated cases.”
“The letter apprises the Secretary General of the circumstances of Mr. Yasin Malik’s conviction in a manifestly dubious and politically motivated case filed by the Indian National Investigation Agency, his chronic ailments and the ruthless treatment meted out to him in Indian jails,” the Pakistani foreign office said in a statement.
“It also highlights that the incarceration of Mr. Yasin Malik, his sham trial on concocted charges, his malicious conviction and the attempt to portray the legitimate freedom struggle of the Kashmiris as terrorism, illustrate India’s blatant disregard of its international legal obligations.”
Bhutto-Zardari said India was in contravention of international human rights laws by denying a fair trial to Malik, arbitrarily detaining and meting inhumane treatment to him in jail since 2019.
The foreign minister urged Secretary-General Guterres to play his role in promoting a peaceful resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions.
Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan since their independence from British rule in 1947. Both countries claim the region in its entirety and have fought two of their three wars over the disputed territory.
The foreign minister urged the international community to take immediate cognizance of India’s targeting of indigenous Kashmiri leadership through motivated cases and stress New Delhi to dismiss all charges against Malik as well as ensure his immediate release.
He asked the world to urge India to release all other Kashmiri leaders and allow the people of Kashmir to determine their future through a free and impartial UN-sponsored plebiscite, as prescribed in Security Council resolutions.
