Yasin Malik should be tried for genocide, not just terror funding case: Kashmiri activist

After a Special NIA court sentenced JKLF chief Yasin Malik to life imprisonment in a terror funding case, Kashmiri activist Lalit Ambardar stated that the terrorist should be tried for more heinous crimes that he has committed.

"We respect the judiciary, but we expect Yasin Malik to be tried for the actual crimes committed by him. Today's punishment is a joke to what he has done to Kashmiri Hindus. You have just punished him for terror funding," Ambardar said. He further added that Malik did not give up terrorism on his own, but was given a 'makeover' by secular liberals. 

Referring to similar cases filed against Bitta Karate, Ambardar lamented that only the first hearing has taken place in his case. 

"Only the first hearing happened in the case of Bitta Karate because the administration refused security to the counsel. How are you going to give justice to the Kashmiri people? Today, they are in danger. We hope that the terrorist gets what he deserves," the activist said. 

Bitta Karate is one of the prime accused of killing Kashmiri Pandits during their exodus from the region in 1990. In an interview in the year 1991, Karate had stated that he executed more than '20 Kashmiri Pandits' or 'maybe more than 30-40' while Kashmiri Pandits said that they regarded the JKLF terrorist as 'Butcher of Pandits'.

On the increase in terror activities in Kashmir, Lalit Ambardar said, "Jihadis do not fall from heaven. The ecosystem is flourishing them in Kashmir."

Yasin Malik's conviction

Days after convicting Yasin Malik in a terror funding case, the Special NIA court sentenced the Kashmiri separatist and chief of the banned Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) to life imprisonment with fine and rigorous imprisonment on May 25. The sentencing by special judge Praveen Singh came after Malik stated that he is 'not going to beg' for anything, and left the quantum of sentence to the discretion of the court. The quantum sentence was pronounced after the Special NIA Court on May 19 convicted Malik, who pleaded guilty to all the charges in cases related to terrorism and secessionist activities in 2017.