Jailed Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Yasin Malik has told a Srinagar court that he will no longer contest the trial proceedings in the 1990 abduction and killing of Kashmiri Pandit nurse Sarla Bhat, in which he has been named a key accused by the State Investigation Agency (SIA).
According to a report by The Tribune, Malik has also said that he wants to give divorce to his Pakistan-based wife, artist and activist Mushaal Hussein Mullick, before his hanging.
“That, considering my personal circumstances and after deep reflection, I have decided not to contest the trial proceedings further. My decision shall not be treated as an admission of any prosecution fact, guilt or acceptance of the allegations made against me. I request for capital punishment,” Malik has said in an affidavit filed before a Srinagar court.
The development comes months after the SIA filed a charge sheet in June in the Sarla Bhat case, naming Malik as the key accused in her killing in April 1990.
Bhat, a Kashmiri Pandit nurse, was abducted from her hostel in Srinagar in April 1990 and was later found dead. Her killing took place during the height of the insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir and amid the mass migration of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley.
In his affidavit, Malik said he had no complaint against the court or the prosecuting agencies, while maintaining that he believed he had been falsely implicated in the case.
“I respectfully state that in my understanding, the present proceedings have arisen out of political circumstances and decisions and I believe that I have been falsely implicated in the present case,” he said.
Malik said he had placed before the court “my truth, my memories, my conscience and the circumstances that have shaped my life”.
“I leave nothing further to explain and nothing further to conceal. I bear no hatred towards any individual. I do not seek revenge against anyone,” he said.
He also addressed his wife in the affidavit, saying he did not want her to spend the rest of her life dealing with the consequences of his imprisonment or potential execution.
Malik married Mushaal Hussein Mullick in 2009 and the couple have a daughter, Razia Sultana.
“I therefore request you to find the courage to begin a new chapter of your life with dignity and hope…That, before I will be hanged, I have taken the decision to separate you from the bond of our Nikah,” he said.
Malik is currently serving a life sentence in a terror funding case. In May 2022, a special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court sentenced him to life imprisonment after finding him guilty in the case.
The Sarla Bhat case is separate from the terror funding proceedings and relates to allegations surrounding Bhat’s abduction and killing in 1990.
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