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Case against me framed up: Yasin Malik

Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik, facing charges of funding terrorism, on Tuesday said he was 'purely framed up' as the assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir were then round the corner.

Addressing a crowded press conference at the All Parties Hurriyat Conference headquarters in Srinagar, Malik, who was released on Monday on a month's parole, said the state government took this step after the prosecution failed to prove any charges against him.

"It is nothing new. The arrests and releases have taken place before and after every election in the past eight years. Over 40 Hurriyat leaders were arrested in the run-up to the election," he said.

"All these leaders -- whether from Hurriyat or outside it -- whom I met in jail said they were offered a choice between a two-year detention under the Public Safety Act and contesting the election," he said. "The prosecution is delaying the case as much as possible against me. Sometimes, the Additional Director General of Police is in Nepal to investigate the case and sometimes it is the Intelligence Bureau Director."

"The case dragged on. Finally, I told the judge that I will bring Altaf Qadri here [to India] and if the prosecution can establish that he had even once visited Nepal in the last eight years, I will plead guilty to all charges," Malik said.

According to the case, Qadri, a Pakistani national, had allegedly delivered money to a couple in Nepal, which was meant to be delivered to Malik for passing on to Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Tayiba.

These charges were baseless and the prosecution then modified its case alleging it was based on the witness of two JKLF activists [Pervaiz Ahmad and Abdul Ahad Shiekh] who were also present at the press conference on March 25 when 'I was arrested', Malik said.

"A one-sided story is doing the rounds everywhere. Mention the name of Mohammad Yasin Malik and it will be followed by US $100,000," he said. "I had announced it on the day of my arrest and I repeat it again that if the government can prove that the money is meant for me, I will give up the cause of freedom struggle."

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