Unjust Capital Punishment Looms for Yasin Malik: A Political Vendetta Revealed

In a deeply troubling turn of events, Yasin Malik, Chief of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), finds himself languishing in a New Delhi jail, along with other Hurriyat leaders, all held captive by India for several years. The latest blow to Malik comes in the form of a conviction in a 30-year-old terror funding case, a move that has been widely criticized as a politically motivated vendetta by the international media.

The Indian court’s decision to convict Malik has raised concerns and sparked accusations of a predetermined outcome, with many fearing that the Indian state has already decided to wield the extreme measure of capital punishment against him. This alarming development has sent shockwaves through the UN-declared disputed region, where the fear of a potential “death warrant” for Malik looms large.

The Pakistan Foreign Office has strongly condemned the actions, denouncing the charges against Malik as “fictitious” and a blatant violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Moreover, they argue that these charges are an attempt to cast unwarranted suspicions on Pakistan.

Yasin Malik himself has publicly decried the lack of a fair trial, accusing the judge of acting more like a “prosecuting or police officer” than an impartial arbiter. Tufail Raja, Malik’s lawyer in the National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) terror funding case, has gone on record alleging the fabrication of charges against his client. Human rights activist Khurram Parvez emphasizes the global recognition of the right to a fair trial, expressing concern over the sudden resurrection of old cases without affording the accused a proper opportunity to present their case.