Yasin Malik Claims Ex-PM Manmohan Singh Thanked Him For Meeting Hafiz Saeed

Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) leader Yasin Malik, currently serving a life sentence in a terror funding case, has claimed that former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh personally thanked him for meeting Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) founder Hafiz Saeed in Pakistan in 2006. According to NDTV, Malik made this assertion in an affidavit submitted to the Delhi High Court on 25 August. Yasin Malik, Manmohan Singh, Hafiz Saeed, JKLF, LeT, Kashmir peace talks, backchannel diplomacy, Delhi High Court affidavit, India-Pakistan peace, terrorist meetings

Malik stated that the meeting with Saeed was not initiated by him independently but was arranged at the request of senior Indian intelligence officials as part of a backchannel peace process with Pakistan. Reported NDTV, Malik said the then Special Director of the Intelligence Bureau (IB), V. K. Joshi, met him in Delhi following the 2005 Kashmir earthquake and requested that he engage not only with Pakistani political leaders but also with terrorist figures, including Saeed, to support Prime Minister Singh’s peace efforts.

In the affidavit, Malik described how Saeed organised a gathering of jihadist groups during the visit, where Malik reportedly urged attendees to embrace peace and reconciliation, quoting Islamic teachings to support his appeal. NDTV reported that Malik said he stressed the principle: “if somebody offers you peace, purchase peace with him.”

Malik noted that the meeting was later portrayed as evidence of his proximity to Pakistani terror groups, which he termed a “classic betrayal,” insisting it was part of an officially sanctioned initiative later distorted for political purposes.

According to NDTV, Malik claimed that upon returning to India, he was debriefed by the IB and asked to brief the Prime Minister directly. He said he met Singh the same evening in New Delhi, in the presence of then National Security Advisor M. K. Narayanan, and that Singh expressed gratitude for his “efforts, time, patience and dedication.” Malik also referred to a photograph in which he was shaking hands with Singh, stating that the former Prime Minister had called him “father of non-violent movement in Kashmir.”

NDTV reported that Malik’s affidavit also mentioned interactions with several other senior political leaders, including Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Sonia Gandhi, P. Chidambaram, I. K. Gujral, and Rajesh Pilot. Malik stated that successive governments, beginning with V. P. Singh and continuing through Manmohan Singh, engaged him to speak on the Kashmiri cause and participate in international forums.

Malik faces accusations of killing four Indian Air Force officers in Srinagar in January 1990 and kidnapping Rubiya Saeed, the daughter of former Union Home Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. The exiled Kashmiri Pandit community has long held Malik responsible for the ethnic cleansing and exodus of their community from the region since 1990.

According to NDTV, Malik’s claims, if substantiated, highlight the role of covert diplomacy and intelligence strategy in India’s outreach to Pakistan, and raise questions about the engagement of separatist leaders and individuals accused of terrorism in backchannel negotiations.

(With inputs from NDTV)