In a stunning twist from Tihar, separatist leader and jailed chief of the banned terror outfit, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), Yasin Malik, has offered himself for the gallows in the 1990 Sarla Bhat murder case, declaring he will not defend the trial even as he announced divorce from his Pakistani wife Mushaal Hussein Mullick.
Malik wrote that for the last eight years he has not been allowed to speak to his wife on phone or see her on video call in jail, nor contact his family. In an emotional note to Mushaal, he wrote: “I have taken this decision with great pain. I don’t want Mushaal to live her whole life carrying the burden of this situation or living like a widow. I want her to start a new chapter of her life with dignity and hope. For his daughter, Malik left an emotional appeal. He also expressed regret for staying away from the family and not being able to spend time with them. Her body was recovered days later. Her killing deepened fear and insecurity among the Pandit community and the case remained cold for over three decades.
He asked Razia to take care of her grandmother – his mother – and to speak to her for at least five minutes every day so that she feels the family’s support in this difficult time. Mushaal had served as special advisor on human rights and women empowerment in Pakistan’s caretaker government from 2023 to 2025. Sarla Bhat, a Kashmiri Pandit staff nurse at Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), Srinagar, was abducted in April 1990 at the peak of militancy in the valley.
