Yasin Malik claims UPA government asked him to meet LeT’s Saeed

NEW DELHI: Jailed separatist and Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Yasin Malik has told the Delhi high court that Manmohan Singh, when he was the Prime Minister, had expressed “gratitude” to him after he (Malik) had met LeT chief and 26/11 Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed in Pakistan in 2006. Malik also claimed that his meeting with the terrorist came at the instance of the then Union govt, which was keen on strengthening peace process in J&K. Yasin was sentenced to life by an NIA court in 2022 in a terror funding case. The claims are part of the affidavit filed by Malik in response to NIA’s appeal in Delhi HC to enhance his sentence to death penalty. Malik claimed in the Delhi HC that he had a “working relationship” with six successive Indian govts since 1990. “When I returned to Delhi from Pakistan, special director IB VK Joshi, as part of the debriefing exercise, met me in the hotel and requested me to immediately brief the Prime Minister. I met the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, the same evening where M K Narayanan, national security adviser, was also present. I briefed him on my meetings and appraised him of the possibilities, where he conveyed his gratitude to me for my efforts, time, patience, and dedication,” he claimed.