Hindustan Times (Amritsar)

Govt wants to force us into talks: Yasin Malik

- HT Correspond­ent letterschd@hindustant­imes.com

SRINAGAR: Senior separatist leader Ya sin Malik on Saturday accused Indian government of digging out “false” cases against separatist­s to force them to “talk at gun point”.

The statement by Malik, who is chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, came after media reports said that Enforcemen­t Directorat­e( ED) has issued a notice to him and two others for alleged forex violation of ₹48.23 lakh.

Mali ks aid he has not received the notice as yet which dates back to 2001 and came to know about it through media reports.

“Seemingly this has been first disclosed to the media for initiating a media trial as usual. This is the realty of these farce cases which (are) only furnishedt­o settle political vendetta and threaten political resistance, and force people to join so-called ‘talk shows’ on gun point,” Malik said in a statement after addressing a press conference in Srinagar.

Malik along with Hurriyat leaders S ye dA li Gee lani and Mirw aizU mar Farooq have stated that they won’t engage with centre appointed interlocut­or Dineshwar Sharma, country’s former IB chief who was tasked by government to initiate talks in Kashmir facing a three-decade old insurgency. The trio has maintained that appointmen­t of Di ne sh war S harm a was“a tactic to buy time under internatio­nal pressure and regional compulsion” and “no Kashmiri will participat­e in the exercise of futility”.

Malik stated that the said case was 16 years old and its trail was already going on under POTA.

“If we say no, they come up with so-called notices and cases to intimidate and penalize us,” he added

 ??  ?? Yasin Malik
Yasin Malik

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