FILE of Kashmir's top separatist leader, Malik freed from prison

(11 Nov 2002)

QUALITY AS INCOMING

APTN FILE
Srinagar, Indian-controlled Kashmir - 25 March 2002
1. Interior All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) House, armed police enter news conference being held by where leader of Kashmiri separatist group Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) Yasin Malik holding a news conference
2. Policeman tries telling Malik he is being arrested
3. Scuffle between Malik and his supporters against the police ensues
4. Malik scuffling with police
5. Mid shot Malik led out of APHC house, surrounded by supporters chanting "We want freedom."
6. Wide shot Malik surrounded by police and supporters outside
7. Mid shot Malik gets in back of a police wagon
8. Police wagons drive off

APTN FILE
Srinagar, Indian-controlled Kashmir - 21 July 1995
9. Malik (black shawl) with supporters, embraces released militants
10. Malik poses for cameras with released militants
11. Malik and released militants walk off with supporters shouting we want freedom

APTN FILE
Srinagar, Indian-controlled Kashmir - 26 June 1995
12. Car carrying Former US Ambassador to India Frank Wisner arrives
13. Wisner embraces Malik
14. Various Wisner sitting in meeting with Malik

STORYLINE:

Kashmir's top separatist leader Yasin Malik was freed from prison on Monday, eight months after he was arrested for allegedly laundering money to finance terrorism, a security official said on Monday.

Malik, who suffers from a heart ailment, was granted bail in July, after a court was told that his health had deteriorated. But within moments, he was rearrested and booked under the Public Safety Act, under which he could be detained for two years without trial.

News of the release came as suspected Islamic militants set off a bomb along the main Kashmir highway, killing 13 paramilitary police and leaving at least five injured, officials said.

Malik's release is intended as a goodwill gesture by the state government, which is hoping to be able to convince the separatists to give up their campaign and help end the violence.

Malik, a former militant leader whose Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) is now a separatist political party, was flown on Monday from the high security Kot Bhalwal prison outside Jammu, the winter capital of Jammu-Kashmir state, to the summer capital Srinagar.

Malik confirmed his release in a brief phone call to The Associated Press.

Malik is among the most popular young leaders in Kashmir. The JKLF led the first wave of young Kashmiris that took to the gun in Kashmir in the late 1980s.

In March this year, police in Kashmir arrested Malik during a news conference he was giving.

Malik's arrest in March came a day after police say they caught a woman carrying US dollars 100-thousand in cash allegedly intended for him.

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