3 witnesses fail to appear before TADA court in cases involving Yasin Malik

Three witnesses, including former Kashmir Bar Association president Mian Abdul Qayoom, failed to appear in a special court in Jammu on Thursday in connection with the 1989 abduction of Rubaiya Sayeed, while separatist leader Yasin Malik and his associate Rafiq Pahloo appeared before it via video-conferencing.

Pahloo was given a final opportunity by the special TADA court to file objections to an application for the cancellation of his bail in a 1990 case in which four Indian Air Force officers were killed, and the abduction case of Rubaiya Sayeed, the daughter of the then Union home minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.

"Four eyewitnesses were summoned to appear before the special court. Among them, Mian Qayoom did not appear and submitted a medical certificate that he is admitted to a hospital. It was said that another eyewitness (number 23) was dead. Both were witnesses in the Rubaiya Sayeed abduction case," senior public prosecutor SK Bhat told PTI.

In the case of the killing of the IAF personnel in a terror attack in Srinagar in 1990, the court had summoned two witnesses for identification, but they could not appear citing medical reasons, Bhat said, adding that both of them had to come from outside.

Bhat said Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front chief Malik and Pahloo appeared before the court via video-conferencing.

The court would again hear the case of the killing of the IAF personnel on January 18 and the Rubaiya Sayeed case the next day.

Bhat said Pahloo was given a last opportunity by the court for filing objections to an application for the cancellation of his bail. The court has agreed to summon eyewitnesses.

The Central Bureau of Investigation moved an application in August for the cancellation of Pahloo's bail in the two cases, informing the court that he had violated the bail conditions by allegedly indulging in separatist activities.

Two witnesses -- numbers 24 and 25 -- were examined in November. They supported the prosecution's case and identified accused Ali Mohammad Mir, Bhat said.

Mir, who is the prime accused in the abduction case after Malik, had taken Rubaiya Sayeed in his vehicle to Sopore from Srinagar and kept her in a guesthouse.

Malik, who is lodged in Delhi's Tihar Jail where he is serving a term in connection with a terror-financing case, was not produced in the court physically due to an order issued by the Union ministry of home affairs restricting his movement.

Pahloo is lodged in the Central Jail in Srinagar following his arrest for reviving the terrorist apparatus in the Kashmir valley, Bhat said.

Pahloo alias "Nanaji" was among the 10 terrorists arrested in July from a hotel in a case related to a conspiracy to revive the banned JKLF and separatist amalgam Hurriyat Conference in the valley.

The special Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act court has already framed charges separately against Malik and several others in both cases.

The charges against Malik, Pahloo and eight others in the 1989 abduction case of Rubaiya Sayeed were framed by the court on January 11, 2021.