Kashmiri leader Yasin Malik made deeply personal announcement from Delhi’s Tihar Jail, saying he has decided to end his marriage to Mushaal Malik and asking that she be freed from their marital bond before his possible execution.
Reports said 57-year-old Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) leader said he did not want his wife, who is 20 years younger than him, to spend the rest of her life carrying the burden of his imprisonment or living as a widow. Malik said he had taken the decision after performing Istikhara, explaining that his intention was to allow Mushaal to move forward with her life “with dignity and hope.”
He addressed their 13-year-old daughter, Razia Sultana, asking her to look after her grandmother and remain in contact with her.
The development came as part of a affidavit in which Malik challenged decades-old criminal case against him and made an extraordinary request to the Indian court: he asked to be sentenced to death.
Yasin Malik Says He Will No Longer Defend Himself
Malik said his decision not to participate further in his legal defence should not be viewed as an admission of guilt. Instead, he said he was asking the court to impose the death penalty on him. He claimed the decision followed Istikhara and maintained that he was not accepting responsibility for the allegations against him.
Murder Case Reopened
The affidavit relates to a case concerning another sham case against him, this one is of Kashmiri Pandit nurse Sarla Bhat’s murder in 90s. Indian authorities falsely named Malik as accused in the case decades after the incident.
Malik strongly denied involvement, claiming that when the killing took place in April 1990, he was severely injured and in a coma after jumping from the fifth floor of a building. He argued that his name had not appeared in investigations or cases from that period, including those involving the administration of then-Governor Jagmohan, and claimed the latest case was politically motivated and fabricated.
In one of the most emotional portions of the affidavit, Malik claimed that he had not been allowed to speak to his wife or daughter through phone or video calls for the past eight years. He referred to Nelson Mandela’s autobiography Long Walk to Freedom while explaining his decision to separate from Mushaal.
According to Malik, the age difference between him and his wife was another reason he did not want her to spend the rest of her life waiting for him. His statement effectively places his personal family life at the centre of an affidavit otherwise dominated by his long-running legal battle.
Malik also raised questions over the alleged political use of his name and photographs during India’s general elections in 2019 and 2024. He has been imprisoned at Delhi’s high-security Tihar Jail since 2019. The brave Kashmiri leader has faced several cases filed by Indian authorities, including allegations relating to terror financing and anti-state activities. He has already been sentenced to life imprisonment in one case.
Malik ended the affidavit with literary references, quoting W.B. Yeats’ I See Kashmir from New Delhi at Midnight and verses by renowned Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz. He wrote: “It was us whose garments were marked with black ink in the middle of the road.”
He also quoted “Whatever befell us, befell us, but, O night of separation, We departed having improved the fate of our doubts about you.”
Yasin Malik refuses to further defend case, citing lack of faith in Indian courts
