Dr. Imtiaz Khan
Kashmiri American Scholar &
Board Member, World Kashmir Awareness Forum
August 20, 2025
Yasin Malik (born 3 April 1966 in Srinagar, Kashmir) is a prominent leader for the movement of Kashmiri independence and the chairman of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front. Raised in the Maisuma neighborhood of Srinagar, Malik’s political activism began early, when he founded the Tala Party and later the Islamic Students League. In the late 1980s, frustrated by blatant rigging of election in the 1987, he along with his colleagues launched a movement that demanded implementation of UN Security Council resolutions on Kashmir, to which both India and Pakistan are signatory. The mass agitation received mammoth support from the people of Kashmir and international attention unnerved government of India. Yasin Malik was jailed and tortured and consequently, he developed heart ailment and lost his ability to hear from one of his ears. He has been checked for these conditions by several physicians in the United States, but the damage is so severe that the defect is beyond total cure.
It is important to mention Amy Waldman who wrote in the New York Times on August 24, 2002, that “Rigged elections in Kashmir in 1989 helped trigger the armed uprising that India estimates has taken more than 35,000 lives.”
Yasin Malik is not run of the mill politician, but a revolutionary leader who has flame of freedom burning in his heart. In media interviews he succinctly states that his involvement in “armed struggle” was outcome of the actions by Indian state. The voices of freedom were throttled and space for non-violent protests was diminished. Under mounting pressure from the people of Kashmir and the attention it received from international community, in 1994, a delegation headed by Ambassador Kuldip Nayyar was dispatched by Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao to contact Mr. Malik in the Jail. It was unequivocally affirmed that all cases against him will be dropped if he eschews violent measures.
The statement by eminent journalist Ambassador Kuldip Nayyar in Redfiff.com on August 7, 1999, bears testimony to his fulfillment of the promise. In Mr. Nayar’s words “The first militant, Yasin Malik, who raised his gun at a public meeting in the heart of Srinagar, has turned nonviolent and vegetarian. Now he is a follower of Mahatma Gandhi.” A prominent journalist Bharat Bhushan, wrote in a prestigious daily ‘The Telegraph’ on February 4, 2007, “The president of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), one of the first to wield the gun in Kashmir, is today training youngsters in non-violent politics. He uses a curious mixture of religion — Sufism — and non-violence to build a constituency for peace in Jammu and Kashmir.”
Indian government cannot ignore the fact that their former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, interacted with Yasin Malik on February 17, 2006, at 6.00 p.m. (India time) and meeting lasted for more than an hour. Dr. Singh sought help from Yasin Mailk and suggested him to take an initiative to bring separatist and militant voices into a dialogue process that can lead India–Pakistan peace parleys. It was conveyed to Yasin Malik by Prime Minister Singh that he had no qualms in visiting Pakistan to advance the peace talks. Subsequently, before visiting Pakistan, Yasin Malik flew to Washington and discussed the peace initiative with then the Assistant Secretary of State, Richrd A. Boucher. He also had a meeting with Elizabeth Millard in National Security Council.
Yasin Malik was invited by Dr. Micheal Krepon, President of Henry L. Stimpson Center, Washington; Dr. Stephen Phillip Cohen, senior fellow in foreign policy studies at Brookings Institutions, Dr. T. Kumar, the Director for International Advocacy at Amnesty International, Washington, DC, to speak on the peace initiative between India and Pakistan and his role in strengthening the dialogue process. Yasin Malik also spoke at New York based, Asia Society and Harvard University Asia Center. It would be illogical, irrational and insane to expect that Prime Minister of India or the representatives of state department or representative of American think-tanks would meet with a person who has committed murderous acts.
In April 2025, while still incarcerated, Malik told India’s Supreme Court that he is a “political leader, not a terrorist,” and highlighted that multiple Indian prime ministers who had previously engaged Yasin Malik in dialogue. He also defended his choice to represent himself in court and clarified that his organization was never officially listed as a terrorist group under UAPA post-1994 ceasefire. On August 8. 2025, Malik appeared virtually before Delhi High Court. He had pleaded for physical presence rather than appearance via virtual mode. His plea was rejected. Presently the National Investigation Agency (NIA) of India is asking for the enhancement of Mr. Malik’s life imprisonment into death penalty. The next hearing will be on November 19, 2025.
One wonders what his crime is. Earlier trial court had said that crimes committed by Malik struck at the ‘heart of the idea of India’ and were intended to forcefully secede Jammu and Kashmir from the union of India. One wonders how Kashmir can secede from India when according to all international agreements including the UN resolutions, Kashmir has never acceded to India in the first place. Associated Press reported that Yasin Malik said during the trial, “Terrorism-related charges leveled against me are concocted, fabricated and politically motivated” and that “If seeking Azadi (Freedom) is a crime, then I am ready to accept this crime and its consequences.”
Sampat Prakash—a prominent Kashmiri Pandit, trade union leader, and activist—described Yasin Malik, the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chairman, as a courageous leader who “lives in the hearts of the Kashmiri people.” He highlighted Malik’s transition from armed resistance to leading a peaceful struggle for Kashmir’s freedom and expressed pride in his friend for having spent much of his life in jail for the Kashmir cause. Sampat Prakash urged Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to demonstrate sincerity toward resolving the Kashmir conflict by visiting Srinagar’s Martyrs’ Graveyard, bowing before the graves of innocent victims, and seeking forgiveness from the Kashmiri people. Despite ideological differences, Sampat Prakash publicly acknowledged Yasin Malik’s influence and commitment to the cause of Kashmir.
The plan and intentions of the current fascist regime are more sinister when it comes to the case of Yasin Malik. Narinder Modi is using Yasin Malik as a pawn for his domestic agenda. The fascist government is encountered with severe backlash due to recent defeat from Pakistan and failed foreign policy. Increase tariffs imposed by present US government has led to economic downturn and Modi’s popularity is in tatters. To ameliorate his political standing, Prime Minister Modi is using concocted, cooked up and contrived cases against Yasin Malik. It should be noted that earlier Indian supreme court had rejected curative appeals for seeking death sentence for Yasin Malik. The trial court ruled that the case did not meet the Supreme Court’s “rarest of rare” threshold for capital punishment. Indian agencies are pursuing nefarious activities by conducting fresh raids after more than three and half decades to manufacture evidence to achieve their iniquitous goals.
The International community must take cognizance of that historical behavior of India in cases like late Afzal Guru where it was stated by Chief justice of supreme court that notwithstanding the lack of overwhelming evidence, the death sentence needs to be carried to fulfill the collective conscience of the majority. Thereafter, the chief justice was rewarded with seat in the Indian parliament on his superannuation.
By eliminating peace-loving leaders like Yasin Malik, the Indian regime is closing any avenues of peace in the region and pushing the youth of Kashmir towards actions that can be detrimental to the peaceful resolution of Kashmir conflict. We appeal to the United Nations and other world powers, including President Donald Trump to earnestly impress upon the Indian government to let international standards of justice prevail and free Mohammad Yasin Malik.