Second key witness identifies Yasin Malik as “main shooter” in 1990 IAF killings

A second “key eyewitness” has testified in court that jailed Kashmiri separatist Yasin Malik was the “main shooter” in the 1990 terror attack that killed four unarmed IAF personnel and injured 22 others in Srinagar, officials said on Sunday.

This latest testimony, recorded last Friday in a TADA court in Jammu, comes nearly two years after the first eyewitness—a retired Indian Air Force colleague of the victims—identified Malik, the head of the banned Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), as the primary gunman. The first witness was present in the courtroom when the second eyewitness supported his statement during the ongoing trial.

Both witnesses also identified Malik’s three alleged associates as participants in the January 25, 1990, attack at Rawalpora, on the outskirts of Srinagar. Malik has been serving a life sentence in Tihar Jail since May 2022 in a separate terror funding case.


Officials said the second eyewitness testified that “one of the other arrested men, Nana Ji, trained an AK-47 rifle on him and was about to fire before turning away.”

As per a Supreme Court directive, Malik and co-accused Nana Ji attended the hearing through video conferencing. The other two accused—Shaukat Bakshi and Javed Mir—were present in person, special public prosecutor Monika Kohli said.

Earlier, on April 4, the Supreme Court rejected Malik’s plea to be physically produced before the Jammu court, citing security concerns, but permitted him to cross-examine witnesses via video link.

The case will come up for its next hearing on November 29.

[With TOI inputs]