'I am a leader, not a terrorist, I have spoken to 7 Prime Ministers', Yasin Malik clarified in SC:

Jailed Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Yasin Malik on Friday (April 4) told the Supreme Court of India that he is a 'political leader' and not a 'terrorist' and claimed that seven prime ministers in the past had interacted with him. Appearing before a bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan via video-conferencing, Yasin Malik cited the submission of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), that there were photographs of him with terrorist Hafiz Saeed and it was covered by all national and regional dailies and television channels. "The central government has not listed my organisation as a terrorist organisation under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). It is worth noting that after the unilateral ceasefire in 1994, not only was I granted bail in 32 cases, but none of the cases were pursued," Malik said.

Yasik Malik said- I am not a terrorist

Yasin Malik said, "Prime Ministers PV Narasimha Rao, HD Deve Gowda, Inder Kumar Gujral, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Dr. Manmohan Singh and even in the first five years of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's tenure, all followed the ceasefire. Now suddenly, the current government in its second term has started hearing 35-year-old terrorist cases against me. This is against the ceasefire agreement." Mehta argued that the ceasefire has no importance in the present case. The bench said that it is not deciding on the merits of the case and is only deciding whether it should be allowed to cross-examine the witnesses virtually or not. In fact, the CBI had argued in the court that Yasin Malik cannot be produced physically in the Jammu court as he was a dreaded terrorist.

What is the whole matter?

Yasin Malik said, "The CBI has objected that I am a security threat. I am responding to this. I am not a terrorist, but just a political leader. Seven Prime Ministers have spoken to me. There is not a single FIR registered against me and my organization for supporting or providing any kind of shelter to any terrorist. There are FIRs registered against me, but they are all related to my non-violent political protest." However, while hearing the case, the apex court refused to allow Yasin Malik to appear physically in some of the cases going on against him in Jammu, but asked Malik to cross-examine the witnesses virtually from Tihar Jail itself. This order has come in a case in which the CBI has sought transfer of the hearing of the 1989 case of kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed, daughter of former Union Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, and the 1990 Srinagar firing case from Jammu to New Delhi. The CBI also challenged a September 20, 2022 order of a trial court in Jammu directing Malik, who is serving life sentence, to appear physically to cross-examine prosecution witnesses in the abduction case.