Families of people killed by the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front in the early 1990s have angrily dismissed a court affidavit filed by jailed JKLF chief Yasin Malik. In the affidavit, Malik sought the death penalty for himself in the 1990 murder of nurse Sarla Bhat, indicated he would not contest the trial, and announced he was divorcing his Pakistani wife so she would not live as a widow.
Nirmal Khanna, the widow of an Indian Air Force personnel shot dead in 1990, criticized Malik for showing concern for his wife’s dignity when he showed no such concern for the many women his group had widowed. Khanna also criticized the decades-long delay in the case, noting that 36 years have passed without a final verdict. Dr Sushma Shalla, whose father was killed by JKLF militants, echoed the criticism and said her own mother had been forced to live as a widow because of Malik and his associates.
Both women rejected the idea that Malik’s gestures merited sympathy, characterizing the affidavit as a calculated attempt to generate public attention rather than genuine remorse. Malik was previously convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in a separate terror-funding case.