BJP targets Cong over Yasin Malik-Hafiz Saeed meeting claim, Oppn hits back for 'selective leak'

The BJP on Friday targeted the Congress over Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik's claim that he met Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed in Pakistan in 2006 at the instance of the erstwhile central government, saying it raises grave questions about the UPA's handling of national security and back-channel diplomacy. The Congress hit back and accused the BJP of "selectively leaking" parts of Malik's affidavit submitted before the Delhi High Court to malign the image of then prime minister Manmohan Singh and the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) as well as divert public attention from the "vote chori" charge against it. In an 85-page affidavit submitted before the Delhi High Court, Malik has claimed that he spent nearly three decades as a key figure in a state-sanctioned "backchannel" mechanism, working with a succession of prime ministers, intelligence chiefs and even business tycoons to foster peace in Jammu and Kashmir. The chief of the banned Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), who is currently lodged in Tihar jail and serving a life term in a case, has shared details about his journey – from his school days to links with terrorists and meetings with political leaders.

Citing a media report on the separatist leader's claims in his affidavit, Union minister Kiren Rijiju said in a post on X, "Dear Congressmen, see this...JKLF terrorist Yasin Malik said that former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh personally thanked and expressed gratitude to him after he met Lashkar-e-Taiba founder and 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed in Pakistan." BJP IT department head Amit Malviya posted one of the pages of the affidavit on X and said, "JKLF terrorist Yasin Malik, serving a life sentence in a terror-funding case, has made a shocking claim." "He met Lashkar-e-Taiba founder and 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed in Pakistan in 2006. The meeting was not his independent initiative but was arranged at the request of senior Indian intelligence officials as part of a back-channel peace process. After the meeting, then-PM Manmohan Singh personally thanked and expressed gratitude to him," he added. "If these new claims are true, they raise grave questions about the UPA's handling of national security and back-channel diplomacy," Malviya said. Congress media and publicity department head Pawan Khera said, "Toolkit to distract from #VoteChori exposed. Since morning, the BJP is selectively leaking parts of Yasin Malik's affidavit to malign the image of Dr Manmohan Singh and the UPA." "From Vajpayee Ji to Manmohan Singh Ji, when the state policy was dialogue and engagement, both the governments met all sorts of stakeholders. If Dr Singh's courtesy is to be questioned, perhaps the BJP should explain Vajpayee Ji's smiling photo-op with the Hurriyat leadership, or Advani Ji's solemn pilgrimage to Jinnah's grave in Karachi," the Congress leader said in a post on X. "Otherwise, we would all like to enjoy their silence for once," he added.

Khera further said that in May 2007, Malik was preparing to launch his Safar-e-Azadi (march for freedom) and he began an indefinite hunger strike demanding the right to proceed after he was arrested on May 4. It was former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who intervened with the UPA government and made sure that Malik's march was allowed to take place, he said, and asked the BJP to "revisit history" instead of feigning outrage at former prime minister Manmohan Singh's civility. "Why was the RSS meeting Yasin Malik in 2011? The BJP was not even in power then. Why was BJP-RSS affiliated think-tank - Vivekananda Foundation’s leadership interacting with Yasin Malik? Is it true that during the Vajpayee era, Malik was made to speak over the phone to Dhirubhai Ambani, through an intermediary?" Khera added.

Flaying the Congress, BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla asked why the erstwhile UPA government wanted talks with Hafiz Saeed.

"'Congress ka haath, hamesha aatank ke saath, Pakistan ke saath (Congress' hand is always with terror and Pakistan)," he said in a post on X.

"Till date, the Congress gives a clean chit to Pakistan on Pulwama, 26/11, Pahalgam (terror attacks) and attacks on the Sena (Indian soldiers) on Op Sindoor and calls it surrender and failure," the BJP spokesperson charged