In a desperate bid to save her husband, Yasin Malik, the Chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), from facing capital punishment, Mushaal Hussein Mullick, along with her 11-year-old daughter Raziyah Sultana, presented an impassioned letter at the office of the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP).
The appeal was addressed to the United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres.
Yasin Malik, 57, is a prominent figure in Kashmir’s non-violent political struggle, advocating for the people’s right to self-determination.
The letter highlighted Malik’s unwavering commitment to the cause, as he has endured years of personal sacrifice, including separation from his family and significant health challenges, all in the pursuit of justice and freedom for the people of Kashmir.
“My father Yasin Malik, 57, is the face of Kashmir’s non-violent political struggle, which stems from a resolution of the very organisation you hear today. He has given away his youth, his family, his health in belief that the people of Kashmir deserve, as the most basic human right, the right to self-determination,” said the letter.
The Kashmiri leader has been incarcerated in the infamous Tihar Jail in India since May 2019, without any proper rights to a fair trial. This inhumane imprisonment has spanned over four years, adding to the 25 years he has previously spent in various Indian prisons. The family fears that Malik’s life is at imminent risk, with the looming possibility of facing the death penalty.
“For that he currently rots in a death cell of the notorious Tihar Jail in India since May 2019. It is four years of inhumane imprisonment with no rights of a fair trial. He has spent 25 such years in multiple Indian jails. Are we waiting for him to die and crown him Kashmir’s Mandela? I am practically an orphan and my mother is living the life of a widow,” the letter stated.
In a rally led by Mushaal and Raziyah Sultana in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Azad Kashmir, they urged the international community to intervene and prevent what they believe could be a “murder in cold blood” of Yasin Malik. The rally saw the young Raziyah Sultana personally handing over the heartfelt letter to the UNMOGIP office, making a heartfelt plea to save her father from the threat of hanging.
