Yasin Malik seeks physical appearance in court, examining witnesses himself in Rubaiya Sayeed kidnapping case

Chief of banned JKLF Yasin Malik on Wednesday requested a special court here for physical appearance in a case related to the kidnapping of former chief minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed’s daughter Rubaiya, failing which he would sit on an indefinite hunger strike, officials said.

They said that Malik, who is undergoing a life sentence in a terror-funding case, appeared before the court through video conference.

Malik said he has written to the government for a physical appearance before the court.

He also informed the court that he has requested for cross examination of witnesses himself and said he would sit on hunger strike if his request was not accepted by the government.

The case pertains to the kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed on December 8, 1989. She was freed from captivity five days later on December 13 after the then V P Singh government, supported by the BJP at the Centre, released five terrorists from the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) in exchange.

The case had gone into virtual cold storage and was revived after Malik was picked up by the National Investigation Agency in 2019 on charges of terror funding. In January last year, the CBI, with help from special public prosecutors Monika Kohli and S K Bhat, framed charges against 10 people, including Malik, in the Rubaiya kidnapping case that turned out to be a turning point in the Valley’s volatile history. Following the release of the five JKLF members, terror groups had started raising their heads.