Yasin Malik Age, Wife, Family, Biography

Some Lesser Known Facts About Yasin Malik

Yasin Malik still resides in his ancestral Mud house located in Maisuma, an uptown locality in Srinagar.

Mohammad Yasin Malik has had a notorious history even before he picked arms. He began his political-cum-militant career in the early ’80s. He was then a member of ‘Tala’ party, a local rebel group of youth which used to get involved in causing disturbances in the valley. The group once also disrupted an India vs West Indies match which was being held at the Sher-i-Kashmir Stadium in 1983.

Tala Party was renamed as the Islamic Students League (ISL) in 1986, which formed an important youth movement in Kashmir. Yasin Malik was the General Secretary of ISL.

He was an active campaigner and a polling agent for Muslim United Front candidate, Yusuf Shah aka Syed Salahuddin in the 1987 Kashmir assembly elections, who later on became the leader of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen pro-Pakistan Kashmiri separatist militant organisation.
A picture of Yasin Malik captured during the 1987 Kashmir Assembly Election rally of Yusuf Shah, a Muslim United Front Candidate

In 1988, he illegally crossed over Line of Control to enter Pakistan occupied Kashmir. Under the administration of Pakistan Intelligence agency, ISI, he received arms training at the Pakistani terrorist camps located in POK. Later on, he gave birth to a militant organisation, Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF).
A picture of Young Yasin Malik at Srinagar hospital after he was detained by the police post the 1987 J&K Legislative Assembly elections

JKLF led by Yasin Malik organised and undertook several terrorist activities in Kashmir. The organisation mainly used to target the Indian Security forces and Kashmiri Pandits living in Kashmir.

In 1994, Malik led JKLF decided to go for a unilateral ceasefire and shifted to non-violent struggle to settle Kashmir issue. Since then, he has adopted Gandhian way non-violence to fight for freedom of Kashmir. ^[11]The Print

Malik has publically admitted to his crimes in an interview given on BBC’s Hardtalk with Tim Sebastian in November 2002.

Reportedly, a police remand in jail caused deafness in his left ear and left his face partially paralysed. ^[12]Sabrang India

Yasin says, he acquired most of his knowledge while serving his time in jail. Yasin has on and off spent several years of his life in different jails. ^[13]Kashmir In-Depth

Yasin’s wife, Mushaal Mullick is a Pakistani painter and the chairperson of Peace and culture organisation based in Pakistan. She is 20 years younger than Malik. ^[14]Open the Magazine
Yasin along with his wife

Yasin Malik and his wife were once thrown out of a hotel in Delhi owing to their separatist ideology for Kashmir. ^[15]The First Post

Yasin Malik says he wants Kashmir to be free from both India and Pakistan. In a letter written to former Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif in 2016, he opposed the merger of Gilgit Baltistan with Pakistan. ^[16]The Tribune

In March 2020, the TADA court framed charges against Yasin Malik under Section 302, 307 of the Ranbir Penal Code, Section 3 (3) and Section 4 (1) of the TADA Act, 1987, and Section 7/27 of the Arms Act 1959, and Section 120-B of the RPC in the 1990 attack on 40 Indian Air Force personnel, leaving four personnel dead. ^[17]The Hindu

Experts are of the opinion that the Indian establishments in the past have appeased terrorist Yasin Malik, and have kept him away from the shackles of law, considering the serious crimes he had committed while being a militant. ^[18]The Quint
Yasin Malik with former Indian PM Manmohan Singh

Chinmay Mandlekar‘s role as Farooq Malik Bitta in Vivek Agnihotri‘s acclaimed film The Kashmir Files (2022) had shades of Yasin Malik.

On 26 July 2022, he was admitted to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in New Delhi following a fluctuation in his blood pressure; Malik had been on a hunger strike since 22 July 2022 after the centre rejected his request to appear physically in the Jammu court hearing for the 1989 abduction case of Rubaiya Sayeed in which he is an accused. ^[19]The Hindu

In October 2024, Malik stated to a UAPA tribunal panel that he had embraced Mahatma Gandhi’s principles and renounced armed struggle in 1994 to advocate for Kashmir’s independence. The hearing was being held to determine the legality of the Central Government’s decision to ban his party, JKLF-Y.