NEW DELHI: Jailed separatist leader and Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Yasin Malik has claimed that former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed “gratitude” to him after he met Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief and 26/11 Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed in Pakistan in 2006.The separatist leader made the claim in an affidavit filed in the Delhi high court on August 25. A copy of the affidavit was shared on X by BJP leader Amit Malviya.Malik stated, “When I returned to New Delhi from Pakistan, Special Director IB V K Joshi, as part of the debriefing exercise, met me in the hotel and requested me to immediately brief the Prime Minister. I met the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh the same evening where N K Narayan, National Security Advisor, was also present. I briefed him on my meetings and appraised him on the possibilities, where he conveyed his gratitude [to] me for my efforts, time, patience and dedication. But as luck would have it, this meeting of mine with Hafiz Saeed and other militant leader(s) of Pakistan which was initiated and executed only on the request of Special Director IB V K Joshi, were portrayed in a different context against me.”He also claimed that the 2006 meeting was not his personal initiative but took place at the request of Indian intelligence officials as part of a backchannel peace process with Pakistan.According to Malik, “The then Special Director IB V K Joshi, had met me in New Delhi and had requested me that as I would be meeting with political leaders in Pakistan it would be very helpful if I could engage in dialogue with Prime Minister of Pakistan including Hafiz Saeed and other militant leaders of Pakistan to help our Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh in the peace process on the Kashmir issue.”Malik added, “I was specifically requested for this meeting with Hafiz Saeed and other militant leaders of Pakistan on the pretext that militancy and peace dialogues cannot go in tandem, given the bomb blast which happened in the National Capital.”He said he agreed to the request and later met Saeed and other leaders of the United Jihad Council at a function in Pakistan.In the affidavit, Malik wrote, “Given the request of Special Director IB V K Joshi, to strength the dialogue institute, in pursuit of peace, I met Hafiz Saeed, Lashkar-e-Taiba Chief, where he organised a function with United Jihad Council in attendance, where on the podium I conveyed and harped in unequivocal terms that as followers of Allah’s Last Messenger Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), we should adhere and follow his sermons in its most purist way.“He alleged that the 2006 meeting was shown out of context to justify invoking UAPA against him, even though he had carried out the talks openly and reported back to India’s top leadership. “It was nothing but a case of classic betrayal, where despite working to strengthen the peace table, I should ideally be seen as an apostle of peace and harmony, on the contrary after 13 years of this meeting just before the abrogation of Article 370 and Article 35A of the Constitution of India, the entire meeting was construed out of context, distorted to meet the requirements for invocation of UAPA and re-produced to brandish me as terrorist, on behest of the current dispensation to not onlyjustify the abrogation of Article 370 and Article 35A of the Constitution of India but also to wipe out the entire Kashmiri political leadership using the situation, and pursue their own political agenda in the state.“The affidavit comes as the Delhi high court hears the National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) appeal to enhance Malik’s life term to a death sentence in a 2017 terror-funding case. The bench has asked Malik to file his reply by November 10.In 2022, Malik was sentenced to life imprisonment after pleading guilty under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). The trial court had held that his case did not qualify as “rarest of rare” for awarding the death penalty.The NIA’s case accused Malik and others, including Hafiz Saeed, Syed Salahuddin, and Shabbir Shah, of conspiring with Pakistan-based groups to fuel unrest in Kashmir. Meanwhile, a UAPA tribunal recently extended the ban on JKLF for another five years, saying no tolerance can be shown to organisations that advocate secessionism