In a startling turn of events, Yasin Malik, a separatist leader and imprisoned leader of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), a banned terror group, offered himself for execution in the 1990 Sarla Bhat murder case. Malik also announced his divorce from Mushaal Hussein Mullick, his Pakistani wife.
Malik, who has been residing in Tihar since 2019, submitted a 25-page written testimony before the Additional Sessions Court in Srinagar on Wednesday via attorney Abu Adil Pandit. The case will be heard again on September 19, according to the court.
Malik stated in his statement that he no longer wants to contest the proceedings in the murder case of Sarla Bhat, a Pandit nurse from Kashmir. But he made it clear that his withdrawal was not an admission of guilt.
He said he was wrongly accused because of political circumstances, but he made the decision after careful consideration and after saying “Istikhara,” an Islamic prayer said before making a significant choice. Malik said, “I will no longer contest the trial and the death penalty may be considered for me,” in court. Malik has previously adopted a similar stance.
When the Delhi special NIA court found him guilty in a terror-funding case in May 2022, he declined to challenge the accusations and was given a life sentence. Since then, the NIA has been attempting to increase his life sentence to the death penalty.
Malik said in the same declaration that he was ending his 16-year union with Pakistani activist and artist Mushaal Hussein Mullick. Razia Sultana, the couple’s 13-year-old daughter, was born in 2009.
From 2023 until 2025, Mushaal worked for Pakistan’s caretaker government as a special advisor on women’s empowerment and human rights.
Malik said that he hasn’t been able to call his wife, visit her via video call while incarcerated, or get in touch with his family for the past eight years. “I have taken this decision with great pain,” he said in a heartfelt letter to Mushaal. I don’t want Mushaal to be a widow or bear the weight of this circumstance for the rest of her life. I want her to begin a new chapter in her life with optimism and dignity.
Malik made a plea for his daughter. In order for Razia to feel the family’s support during this trying period, he requested her to look after her grandma, his mother, and to talk to her for at least five minutes each day. He also apologized for not being able to spend time with the family and for being away from them.
During the height of militancy in the valley in April 1990, Sarla Bhat, a Kashmiri Pandit staff nurse at Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), Srinagar, was kidnaped. Days later, her body was found. The Pandit community became more fearful and uneasy after her murder, and the case went unsolved for more than thirty years.
The state police’s State Investigation Agency (SIA) reactivated the inquiry in 2025 and carried out raids at places connected to Malik and others. Malik, Khurshid Ahmed Chalku, Abdul Hameed Sheik, Mohammad Yusuf Sofi, and Ghulam Mohammad Taploo were listed on the chargesheet.
Malik is the main live accused, with Chalku still at large and Sofi, Sheik, and Taploo dead. Malik is being tried in a different murder case in Jammu and is currently serving a life sentence in Tihar.
Also Read – Relief For Imran Khan: High Court Orders Family Access, Phone Calls, Andd End To Isolation