M A I N   N E W S

Warrant against Yaseen Malik

Jammu, December 15
A designated POTA court here issued a non-bailable warrant against JKLF Chairman Yaseen Malik in the case of alleged smuggling of $ 1 lakh for funding militancy in Jammu and Kashmir.

The non-bailable warrant was issued by the Presiding Officer of POTA court Mr P.N. Razdan, after the JKLF leader failed to appear before it yesterday.

The court had granted bail to Malik on July 20 but the then state administration had arrested him again under the Public Safety Act. The non-bailable arrest warrant had been issued for securing his presence before the court.

The Presiding Officer, however, released on bail Shamima, who allegedly acted as courier for carrying the dollars.

The state government led by Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, which came into power on November 2, released Malik on November 11, a clear signal to the separatist about a genuine desire for holding talks.

The Crime Branch Jammu had issued challans against Yaseen Malik, Mushtaq Ahmad Dar, Shamima Khan, alias Shazia, and Altaf Hussain Qadri against whom general arrest warrants under Section 512, CrPC, were issued by the court.

In the challan, it was submitted that the case was registered on March 24, 2002 under Sections 3 and 4, POTA, on the basis of the statement of the accused and recovery of $ 1 lakh. The police had arrested Malik on March 25, 2002 when he was addressing a press conference at Srinagar.

The police had seized $ 70,000 from Shamima and $ 30,000 from another accused, Mushtaq Dar.

On inquiry, the duo had stated that they had collected the money from Altaf Qadri (Pakistani based Hurriyat leader) in Kathmandu and the same money was to be handed over to Yaseen Malik in Srinagar.

Malik has denied all these charges. PTI