CONGRESS, BJP LOCK HORNS OVER YASIN MALIK AFFIDAVIT

Yasin Malik's affidavit claiming Manmohan Singh thanked him for meeting Hafiz Saeed has ignited a fierce BJP-Congress clash.

- ANAND SINGH/AGENCIES

A political storm erupted on Friday after Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Yasin Malik, serving a life sentence in a terror-funding case, claimed in an affidavit to the Delhi High Court that former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had personally thanked him for meeting Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) founder Hafiz Saeed in Pakistan in 2006 at the request of Indian intelligence agencies.

The affidavit, filed on 25 August as the National Investigation Agency (NIA) presses for the death penalty against Malik, alleged that the meeting with Saeed and other militant leaders was not his initiative but part of a back-channel peace process. Malik, sentenced to life in 2022 after pleading guilty under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), said his actions were later "twisted to brand me a terrorist" and called it "a classic betrayal." He added that he had briefed both Manmohan Singh and then National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan on his return.