IB had asked me to talk to LeT chief, Pakistan PM, says Yaseen Malik

Jailed Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik has told the Delhi High Court that his meeting with Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed in Pakistan was not clandestine but part of a backchannel exercise initiated by Indian intelligence. He claimed that he later briefed then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about the meeting.

Malik said he was asked to engage with the then Prime Minister of Pakistan, Hafiz Saeed, and other militant leaders during his visit to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) following the 2005 earthquake.

“The then Special Director of the Intelligence Bureau (IB), VK Joshi, had met me in New Delhi and requested that, as I would be meeting political leaders in Pakistan, it would be helpful if I also engaged in dialogue with the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Hafiz Saeed, and other militant leaders. The goal was to support our Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in advancing the peace process on the Kashmir issue,” Malik stated in an affidavit filed before the High Court.

Currently serving a life sentence in a terror funding case, Malik said the visit was part of a humanitarian mission, during which he carried relief goods to PoK. “It was during this visit that I went to a Lashkar-e-Taiba camp in Murree, where Hafiz Saeed had organised a felicitation event. I addressed the Lashkar cadres there,” he admitted, adding that he had publicly acknowledged the visit on television at the time. The National Investigation Agency (NIA), in its chargesheet, cited this appearance as evidence of Malik’s “close association with the banned terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba.”

Malik, however, maintained that his message was one of peace. “I met Hafiz Saeed at a function attended by the United Jihad Council. From the podium, I conveyed that a better act than prayer, fasting, and charity is to ‘purchase peace if someone offers it’, because hatred, malice, and enmity destroy the great gifts and grace of the Almighty,” he said.

According to Malik, upon returning from Pakistan, he debriefed VK Joshi and was then taken to meet the Prime Minister. “I met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that same evening, in the presence of National Security Adviser NK Narayanan. I briefed him on my meetings and outlined possible outcomes. The Prime Minister expressed his gratitude for my efforts, time, patience, and dedication,” he added.

Malik called the case against him a “classic betrayal,” claiming the meeting — which he said was initiated and requested by IB Special Director Joshi — was later distorted to portray him as a terrorist.

“Thirteen years after the meeting, just before the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A, it was construed out of context and used to invoke the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) — not just to justify the constitutional move but also to eliminate the entire Kashmiri political leadership,” he alleged.

He argued that if his intentions were “nefarious,” he would not have legally travelled to Pakistan or met militant leaders on an open stage in front of the international press.

Malik also rejected allegations of genocide and gang rape of Kashmiri Pandits as “baseless, frivolous, and disgusting,” noting that several prominent national figures had continued to engage with him despite these claims.

“Even the Shankaracharyas and leaders like former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee held open engagements with me, despite such allegations being circulated by the media and investigative agencies,” he wrote. In his affidavit, Malik also highlighted his past interactions with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).