Yasin Malik, Kashmir’s best-known separatist, an Indian intelligence asset?

For good implicit 3 decades, Yasin Malik has held the estimation of a top-ranked pro-freedom person from Indian-administered Kashmir.

A person who became synonymous with the equipped conflict that broke retired successful Kashmir seeking independency from India successful the precocious 1980s, past turned to the advocacy of peaceful, nonviolent resistance, Malik is presently serving a beingness condemnation successful a New Delhi jail. A villain successful the eyes of galore successful the Indian information services and the country’s strategical establishment, Malik has besides been distrusted by Pakistan, which New Delhi has agelong accused of supporting equipped unit successful Kashmir.

But a sensational affidavit that the 59-year-old filed successful the Delhi High Court successful precocious August has gripped India implicit the past weeks due to the fact that of a bid of sensational claims that it makes – and that erstwhile Indian officials and analysts accidental mightiness person astatine slightest immoderate constituent of information successful them.

Malik’s petition challenges the ascendant communicative some astir his ain decades-long journey arsenic a separatist and the Indian state’s engagement with the rebellion question successful the disputed region, besides claimed by Pakistan.

At the bosom of Malik’s claims is simply a central, stunning question: Was helium really an Indian quality plus each along?

What’s the thrust of Yasin Malik’s claims?

In his 84-page affidavit, Malik claims that since the 1990s – by which clip the equipped revolt by young Kashmiris against New Delhi’s regularisation was astatine its highest – helium had been engaging with apical authorities successful the Indian authorities successful its bid to resoluteness the conflict.

Malik says helium met respective Indian premier ministers and national ministers, heads of the country’s quality agencies, members of the far-right Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), and adjacent 2 salient Hindu spiritual seers who called connected his residence successful Srinagar “umpteen numbers of times” arsenic portion of a back‑channel diplomacy sanctioned by the Indian authorities to further the bid efforts successful Kashmir. The RSS is the ideological mentor of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu majoritarian Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

He besides says a 2006 gathering with Hafiz Saeed, the Pakistan-based laminitis of the Lashkar-e-Taiba equipped radical who is wanted by India for the 2008 Mumbai attacks, was not his ain initiative, but managed by the Intelligence Bureau (IB), India’s home spy agency, arsenic portion of efforts to marque Saeed springiness up arms.

Who is Yasin Malik?

Born successful the riverside neighbourhood of Maisuma successful the region’s main metropolis of Srinagar, Malik was 21 erstwhile a section predetermination successful Indian-administered Kashmir was allegedly rigged by the Indian authorities successful 1987 to forestall pro-separatist candidates from winning.

As a young polling cause deployed astatine 1 of the predetermination booths successful the city, Malik said helium had firsthand acquisition of the irregularities and subterfuge successful that predetermination that person since been wide acknowledged – a prelude to the convulsive rebellion question that erupted successful 1989.

Furious implicit the alleged vote-theft, Malik corralled a motley unit of aggrieved volunteers and crossed implicit to Pakistan, wherever helium is accused of having received arms grooming by the Pakistani information establishment. He came backmost and took implicit the bid of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Force (JKLF), a rebel radical founded successful 1977 that was down a bid of deadly attacks connected Indian information forces.

However, Malik soon reportedly fell retired with Islamabad implicit his enactment for Kashmir arsenic an autarkic authorities arsenic opposed to the portion merging with Muslim-majority Pakistan. As helium carved retired a antithetic way to defy the Indian rule, it was the JKLF’s rival, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, that progressively gained Pakistani patronage.

Yasin Malik being escorted by constabulary officers to a tribunal successful New Delhi, May 25, 2022 [Dinesh Joshi/AP Photo]

Meanwhile, Malik was arrested and imprisoned by the Indian authorities successful 1990.

He claims that aft his arrest, helium was driven to New Delhi’s sprawling Tihar Jail and aboriginal kept astatine a impermanent location successful Mehrauli connected the outskirts of the Indian capital, wherever apical officials from the Indian information apparatus met him “almost each day”, insisting that helium indispensable person meal with the past Indian Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar. He says the visiting officials urged him to renounce equipped rebellion.

He says helium continued to prosecute with 4 much Indian premier ministers crossed governmental lines. They see PV Narasimha Rao of the Congress party; Inder Kumar Gujral, who led a conjugation authorities nether the alleged United Front concisely successful the 1990s; Atal Behari Vajpayee from Modi’s BJP; and Manmohan Singh from the Congress. During their tenure, Vajpayee and Singh were actively progressive successful bid talks with Pakistan. Modi replaced Singh arsenic premier curate successful 2014.

Malik was released from jailhouse successful 1994 – helium claims this was portion of a tacit knowing with New Delhi, which saw him publically abandoning the equipped rebellion, declaring a ceasefire and resolving to combat for Kashmir’s independency done nonviolent means propagated by India’s anticolonial icon, Mahatma Gandhi.

After that, Malik led respective peaceful protests connected Kashmir’s streets against allegedly amerciable arrests, torture and killings of civilians by Indian forces, denial of governmental and quality rights to the region’s residents, and to request an extremity to Indian rule. He was often arrested during these restive years, bolstering his credentials arsenic an incorruptible person of the Kashmir cause.

But Malik’s nationalist beingness took a drastic crook successful 2019, erstwhile 40 Indian soldiers were killed successful a suicide onslaught by suspected rebels successful Kashmir’s Pulwama area. Malik was arrested and imprisoned, and his JKLF radical was banned.

Cases pending against him for decades – for which helium claims the Indian authorities had already granted him amnesty – were reopened. Some of the superior charges against him included those related to the 1989 kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed, the girl of erstwhile Indian location curate and Kashmiri person Mufti Mohammad Sayeed; the 1990 sidesplitting of 4 members of the Indian Air Force; and receiving funds from Pakistan to make unrest successful India.

In May 2022, a peculiar tribunal served him 2 beingness sentences, on with 5 punishments of 10 years of rigorous imprisonment each and a good of 100,000 rupees ($1,127). He has been lodged successful Tihar Jail since.

Why did Malik record the affidavit?

Malik’s affidavit to the Delhi High Court, submitted connected August 25, was successful effect to India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) seeking to summation his condemnation from beingness imprisonment to a decease penalty.

In the affidavit, Malik says portion helium maintained a nationalist posture of a hard-willed, unbending fig adored by millions of Kashmiris for having challenged India’s authority, helium had simultaneously entered into a collaborative concern with successive Indian governments, which, helium claims, assured him that superior charges against him oregon JKLF volition not beryllium pursued arsenic agelong arsenic helium adhered to a nonviolent path.

He says the Indian authorities had honoured this knowing for astir 25 years, and that charges against him are present being distorted by the NIA to framework him arsenic a “terrorist”.

Therefore, his affidavit, helium says, is intended to contiguous his broadside of the story, to amusement the mitigating circumstances nether which helium acted, and to exposure betrayals by Indian authorities aft years of governmental talks and clandestine meetings.

Malik claims his 2006 sojourn to Pakistan to conscionable Saeed was endorsed by a elder authoritative successful Indian intelligence, and that upon his return, helium had briefed India’s apical information advisers astir the meeting.

A United Kingdom-based journalist, who has written connected the Kashmir contented for decades, told Al Jazeera that Malik’s affidavit “highlights the world of smoke-and-mirrors” successful conflicts similar the 1 implicit the Himalayan region.

Malik’s case, helium said, is simply a “litmus test”.

“To basal with Malik is to basal against India, the prosecution says,” said the writer and writer connected information of anonymity due to the fact that helium feared helium could beryllium barred by the Indian authorities from visiting the country. “But helium proved the nonstop other of that: that helium stood for himself, his antithetic factions, the state, and its antithetic emissaries successful the multifaceted conflict.”

AS Dulat, who held elder positions astatine the IB and headed the Research and Analysis Wing, India’s outer quality agency, however, told Al Jazeera that New Delhi’s determination to scope retired to Malik successful the 1990s indispensable beryllium seen successful the airy of the bid processes that successive Indian governments had attempted to prosecute successful Kashmir.

“Everybody who could person helped successful the bid process was tapped, and that included everybody. The thought was to effort to bring peace. There was consensus, it varied from authorities to government, grade to degree,” Dulat said.

“Everybody agreed that what Kashmir needed was peace. I don’t deliberation there’s immoderate disagreement connected that. Times support changing, radical support changing, the concern contiguous would not beryllium the aforesaid arsenic yesterday.”

Dulat, however, did not remark connected the circumstantial claims made by Malik and whether helium believed they were true.

What different revelations has Malik made?

Malik’s affidavit besides claims helium was instrumental successful helping the Indian authorities stymie a fashionable uprising successful Indian-administered Kashmir successful 2016 pursuing the sidesplitting of young rebel leader, Burhan Wani.

He mentions gathering the deceased Kashmiri pro-freedom person Syed Ali Shah Geelani during the uprising, “something which the [Indian] authorities agreed to and had fixed their main go-ahead”, according to the affidavit.

In the meeting, Malik says helium asked Geelani to suspend the onslaught – by giving “a breather of 2 oregon 3 days”, arsenic helium writes successful his affidavit, successful a “protest calendar” the agitating Kashmiris were following. Malik says helium was capable to prevail contempt absorption from the confederation of separatist groups that Geelani headed.

He says the intermission was incorporated, preventing the thoroughfare protests from further escalating, and the question tapered disconnected wrong weeks. He claims his connection to intermission the protests was besides supported by Kashmir’s concern and trading communities, who were losing their income owed to the strike.

In his affidavit, Malik besides reveals that helium was successful concealed back-channel talks successful 2000 with the Indian concern tycoon, Dhirubhai Ambani, the deceased begetter of Reliance Industries president Mukesh Ambani, Asia’s richest man.

At that time, the elder Ambani was investing successful an lipid refinery successful the occidental Indian authorities of Gujarat, which helium disquieted was located wrong “shooting region of Pakistan”. The tycoon, fearing that the continued subject tensions betwixt India and Pakistan implicit Kashmir threatened to jeopardise his refinery project, began talks with Malik done a adjacent aide.

But Malik does not uncover overmuch astir this encounter, lone saying helium and Ambani exchanged pleasantries and bonded implicit a shared inheritance of men with humble beginnings. He does not accidental if helium was capable to assuage the industrialist’s anxieties implicit the project, which contiguous is 1 of the largest lipid refineries successful the world.

Malik besides boasts of having received an Indian passport during Prime Minister Vajpayee’s tenure successful 2001, erstwhile hardline Hindu nationalist Lal Krishna Advani was the location minister. He says helium was capable to question to the United States, the UK, Saudi Arabia and galore different countries aft that, and that helium kept Indian authorities informed astir who helium was gathering there.

How credible are Malik’s allegations?

In a station connected X connected September 19, Mehbooba Mufti, erstwhile main curate of Indian-administered Kashmir, said she has written to national Home Minister Amit Shah, urging him to “take a compassionate view” of Malik’s lawsuit successful airy of the caller revelations arsenic the NIA seeks the decease punishment against him.

Mufti is the sister of Rubaiya Sayeed, the erstwhile Indian location minister’s daughter, whom Malik is accused of having helped abduct successful 1989.

A week later, successful a file for The Wire quality website, Mufti wrote that the Indian authorities has “used individuals to service short-term goals and past discarded oregon punished them erstwhile they outlived their usefulness”, comparing Malik’s lawsuit with the secretive hanging of Afzal Guru wrong Tihar Jail successful 2013. Guru, a Kashmiri, was convicted of an onslaught connected the Indian parliament gathering successful 2001.

In a 2004 missive to his lawyer from prison, Guru had named an Indian constabulary serviceman named Davinder Singh, who had allegedly asked him to assistance the radical accused of the parliament attack. Guru’s allegations were ne'er investigated. In 2020, however, Singh was arrested successful Kashmir erstwhile helium was travelling successful a car with 2 men suspected to beryllium members of the Pakistan-based Hizb-ul-Mujahideen equipped group, raising superior questions astir the functioning of Indian constabulary and quality authorities successful Indian-administered Kashmir.

“If whistleblowers are executed, if peace-builders are imprisoned, if spot is betrayed implicit and implicit again, past what aboriginal remains for reconciliation successful Kashmir?” Mufti wrote successful her column.

Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) Chairman Yasin Malik, centre, walks extracurricular his location aft helium was detained by Indian constabulary successful Srinagar, Indian-administered Kashmir, connected November 10, 2016 [Mukhtar Khan/ AP Photo]

However, information adept Ajai Sahni believes Malik’s disclosures could person the other effect of what helium whitethorn person intended – they person ended up revealing him arsenic a idiosyncratic of “doubtful” vintage who played some sides.

“There are cases of murders and coercion against him. He indispensable person been adjacent to idiosyncratic successful the government. That’s wherefore helium was allowed to beryllium free. Otherwise, enactment would person been taken against him successful each these years,” said Sahni, who is the enforcement manager astatine the New Delhi-based Institute for Conflict Management.

“Just due to the fact that you person been utilized by the authorities doesn’t mean you are a antheral of integrity,” said Sahni, referring to Malik’s labelling of his ongoing proceedings arsenic a “breach of faith” due to the fact that helium was allegedly promised amnesty by the Indian government.

“In fact, it is the different mode around. If you were a antheral of integrity, you wouldn’t person been utilized by the state.”

But writer and writer Vikram Jit Singh, who covered Kashmir astatine the tallness of the rebellion successful the 1990s, says India’s governmental enactment and the information agencies “were precise overmuch successful the loop of what was going on” and that Malik’s claims dependable “plausible”.

“It is simply a known information that governments harnessed these elements successful gathering bridges,” helium told Al Jazeera.

“They uncover however governments run erstwhile mandated by a governmental volition that seeks reconciliation with an adversary, which is an amalgam of the nation-state and non-state actors.”