New Delhi, Sept 19: In a sensational claim, jailed Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Yasin Malik has alleged that former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh personally thanked him after his 2006 meeting in Pakistan with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) founder and 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed.
The assertion was made in an affidavit submitted to the Delhi High Court on August 25. Malik, who is serving a life sentence in a terror funding case, claimed the meeting was not his independent initiative but part of a backchannel peace process initiated by Indian intelligence.
According to Malik, then Special Director of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) V. K. Joshi met him in New Delhi before his Pakistan visit in the aftermath of the 2005 Kashmir earthquake. Joshi, he alleged, urged him to use the trip to engage not only with political leaders but also with militant figures, including Saeed, in support of Singh’s peace outreach. Malik said he was told that dialogue with Pakistan would lack credibility unless terror leaders were part of the process.
Acting on this request, Malik claimed he attended a gathering organised by Saeed and the United Jihad Council, where he delivered a speech calling on militants to embrace reconciliation over violence. Citing Islamic teachings, he urged them to “purchase peace” if it was offered.
Years later, the meeting was cited as evidence of Malik’s proximity to Pakistani terror groups. The JKLF chief, however, described this as a “classic betrayal,” insisting it was a sanctioned effort later twisted for political purposes.
The most explosive portion of his affidavit relates to his return to India. Malik said he was debriefed by the IB and then asked to brief Prime Minister Singh directly. He claimed he met Singh the same evening, in the presence of then National Security Advisor M. K. Narayanan, where the Prime Minister conveyed gratitude for his “efforts, time, patience and dedication” in engaging hardline elements. Malik further alleged Singh even described him as the “father of the non-violent movement in Kashmir.”
The affidavit also references Malik’s past interactions with political leaders including Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Sonia Gandhi, P. Chidambaram, I. K. Gujral and Rajesh Pilot. He asserted that successive governments since the early 1990s had engaged him as part of peace efforts and even encouraged him to raise the Kashmiri cause on international platforms.
If accurate, Malik’s revelations raise serious questions about India’s covert peace strategies and the extent of reliance on separatist leaders accused of terrorism. Most significantly, his claim that a sitting Prime Minister of India expressed gratitude following a meeting with Hafiz Saeed could ignite a major political controversy.
Malik remains accused of killing four Indian Air Force personnel in Srinagar in 1990 and of involvement in the kidnapping of Rubiya Saeed, daughter of then Union Home Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. Kashmiri Pandits also hold him responsible for the ethnic cleansing and exodus of their community from the Valley.
For now, Malik’s affidavit stands as a controversial intersection of diplomacy, intelligence operations and terrorism—thrusting former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh into the frame of one of India’s most secretive peace gambits. (Agencies)
