Jailed Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Mohammad Yasin Malik, who has been accused in the 1990 killing of Kashmiri Pandit nurse Sarla Bhat, has stated in a 25-page affidavit that he is divorcing his Pakistani wife, Mushaal Hussein Mullick, citing his prolonged imprisonment. At the same time, Malik continues to deny involvement in Bhat’s murder and has asked for the death penalty, a move that appears intended to present himself as a victim.
Malik has been married to Mushaal, a Pakistani national, since 2009. In his affidavit, he wrote that before being hanged, he had decided to end their marital bond.
The 60-year-old has been in prison for more than seven years after being arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in 2019. In 2022, a special NIA court in Delhi sentenced him to life imprisonment after finding him guilty in a case involving terror financing and separatist activities in Jammu and Kashmir.
He is also facing prosecution in several other cases connected to the height of militancy and violence in the Kashmir Valley during the late 1980s and 1990s.
Apart from the Sarla Bhat murder case, Malik has been accused of involvement in the 1990 attack on Indian Air Force personnel in Srinagar, which resulted in the deaths of four servicemen, as well as the 1989 kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed, daughter of then Union Home Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.
WHY YASIN MALIK IS SEEKING A DIVORCE
Against this backdrop, Malik submitted a 25-page affidavit stating that he was ending his marriage so that his wife could spend the rest of her life without having to bear the burden of his circumstances or live as a widow, PTI reported.
At the same time, Malik has continued to reject allegations that he was involved in Sarla Bhat’s murder. He has instead alleged that he was falsely implicated as part of a conspiracy dating back decades.
Malik strongly challenged the State Investigation Agency’s chargesheet, calling its allegations a “subsequent invention” made more than 30 years after the alleged crime.
He claimed that in April 1990, around the time Bhat was allegedly abducted and killed, he had suffered critical injuries after falling from a building during a BSF raid in Narwara. According to Malik, he remained in a coma and was twice reported dead by news organisations, including state-run Doordarshan.
He argued that it would be impossible for someone who was unconscious, fighting for his own survival and widely believed to have died to have participated in, planned or directed the crime.
Malik has also said he will no longer defend himself in the ongoing trial, claiming that he has placed his case entirely in the hands of God.
In his court submission, he said he had decided after careful consideration not to participate further in the proceedings. He clarified that this should not be interpreted as an admission of guilt, acceptance of the prosecution’s allegations or acknowledgment of any fact put forward by the prosecution. He also requested capital punishment, PTI reported.
WHO IS YASIN MALIK’S WIFE MUSHAAL HUSSEIN MULLICK?
Mushaal Hussein Mullick, Malik’s wife, has periodically featured in the news. In August, The Express Tribune reported that she had offered to mediate amid major protests in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, where Pakistani authorities launched a heavy crackdown.
In 2023, Mushaal was appointed to Pakistan’s federal caretaker government. She served as special adviser to caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar on human rights and women’s empowerment, according to GeoTV.
Earlier reports said Malik first met Mushaal in 2005 while visiting Pakistan to seek support for his separatist movement.
Mushaal holds a postgraduate degree in political economy from the London School of Economics and has also been associated with the arts, including drawing nude artwork. Her mother, Rehana Hussain Malik, was a Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) leader, while her father, M A Hussain Malik, was a noted Pakistani economist.
An India Today Magazine report on their 2009 marriage noted that Malik had reportedly pledged during the 1980s to remain celibate for the sake of the insurgency, but later abandoned that vow after meeting Mushaal in Karachi.
IS YASIN MALIK TRYING TO PRESENT HIMSELF AS A VICTIM?
By bringing his marriage and personal circumstances into his affidavit, Malik appears to be attempting to portray himself as a political figure caught in a wider conflict rather than as a militant leader whose organisation was involved in the violence that affected Kashmir during the 1990s.
Analyst and columnist Amana Begam Ansari described the affidavit as an apparent attempt at damage control.
She argued that Malik was seeking to emphasise allegations of coercion and an unfair legal process, as well as his claimed non-violent political role after 1994 and his contacts with Indian officials. According to her, these elements appear intended to frame him more as a political actor caught in a broader conflict than as an unrepentant militant.
Analysts have similarly suggested that Malik is portraying himself as the victim of what he describes as a coercive investigation and unfair trial while highlighting the prospect of facing the death penalty.
His decision to dissolve his marriage with Mushaal fits into that broader narrative, presenting his long imprisonment as something that has caused significant personal consequences for his family.
Malik has already been convicted in a terror-related case, while the Jammu and Kashmir Police’s State Investigation Agency has prepared a 737-page chargesheet in the Sarla Bhat murder case.
BJP spokesperson Danish Bhatt said the chargesheet leaves Malik with little to contest and described it as a comprehensive case filed by the J&K Police SIA. He also said successive governments had failed to deliver justice to Bhat for 36 years and claimed that the BJP government had ensured that the case was finally moving ahead.
Ultimately, Malik’s role in the Sarla Bhat murder case will be determined by the courts based on the evidence presented during the proceedings. His claims about his circumstances, his decision to seek capital punishment and his divorce from his Pakistani wife do not, by themselves, resolve the allegations against him.
