Who is Yasin Malik - Kashmiri separatist leader sentenced to life imprisonment?

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Yasin Malik, separatist leader from Jammu and Kashmir, was sentenced to life imprisonment in terror funding case. On Wednesday (May 25), the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had urged the court to give the death penalty to Yasin Malik. Malik had said that will not beg for anything and left the decision on court. The lawyer who attended the court proceeding said, in the courtroom, "Yasin said that if he has been involved in any terrorist activity or violence in 28 years, if Indian Intelligence proves this, then he will also retire from politics. 'I will accept the hanging. With seven Prime Ministers, I have worked'. But the court has sentenced Yasin to life. Special NIA Judge Praveen Singh announced the sentence. Yasin has got two life sentences and five punishments of 10 years of rigorous imprisonment. The sentences will to run concurrently. A monetary penalty of over ₹ 10 lakh has also been levied, as per reports.

The Kashmiri separatist leader and former militant is an advocate of the separation of Kashmir from both India and Pakistan, and wants an independent Kashmir. Yasin Malik was the Chairman of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) which originally spearheaded armed militancy in the Kashmir Valley. He gave up violence in 1994 and adopted peaceful methods to resolve the Kashmir issue.

In August 1990, Yasin Malik was captured in a wounded condition, and remained in jail till May 1994. In October 1999, he was arrested under the Public Safety Act (PSA). He was also arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act in 2002.