Broken Man?

Former Pakistan trained terrorist turned pacifist chief of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front [JKLF] Mohammad Yasin Malik who is serving a life term for conspiracy and waging war against the state, is in the news once again. This time it’s because of an affidavit filed by him from Tihar Jail in connection with ongoing legal proceedings against him in the 1990 Sarla Bhat murder case.
In his affidavit, Malik has basically mentioned two things; one, he’s not involved in this murder but still does not intend to defend himself. To make things more confusing, he has inexplicably requested capital punishment. Two, he’s declared that he is divorcing his Pakistani wife Mushaal Hussein as he does not want her “to spend the rest of her life carrying the burden of his circumstances, or living as a widow.”
After reading his 25-page affidavit, those not aware of Malik’s wily ways, would picture the JKLF chief as a broken man “carrying the burden of his circumstances.” They would perceive him as one who was misguided into picking up the gun, and despite eschewing violence and working discreetly as the government’s Track II emissary for peaceful resolution of the Kashmir issue, is still being unfairly targeted by the state through a battery of up charges.

The Great Survivor

Malik’s days as a JKLF chief are a study in gore and violence. He was personally involved in the 1989 kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed, daughter of the then Union Home Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed as well as the 1990 murder of unarmed four India Air Force servicemen.
Besides numerous other acts of terror including the targeted killings of prominent personalities like a retired judge, director of a government TV channel and several activists. Under his watch, JKLF even bombed a civilian passenger bus and killed innocent civilians on mere suspicion of them being informants, and one such victim was Sarla Bhat, a Kashmiri Pandit female nurse, for which he is being tried.
But Malik is a man endowed with nine lives who has survived very difficult times. By the time he was released from prison in May 1994], the newly formed Hizbul Mujahideen [HM] terrorist group had already decimated JKLF in a bloody turf war. Realising that HM had JKLF replaced as Pakistan’s pet proxy in J&K, Malik realised that in the absence of military and financial aid from the Pakistan army, JKLF had no future as an armed group. So he deftly changed track and eschewing violence declared a unilateral ceasefire ensuring his continued relevance in Kashmir politics.
However, this move created another crisis- enraged by his decision to declare ceasefire, JKLF founder Amanullah Khan immediately expelled Malik from JKLF. Malik however remained unfazed and promptly formed his own faction of JKLF, thereby surviving a monumental crisis that could have well ended his political career. Then he executed a masterstroke by cozying up with New Delhi and establishing an enduring relationship that by Malik’s own admission included interaction with five successive Indian prime ministers.

Playing Victim

In his affidavit, the JKLF chief has gone into great detail of how prime ministers as well as top government and intelligence officials fussed over him and recounted his role as a back-channel interlocutor on Kashmir. Readers would recall that in the affidavit submitted by Malik last year, he had claimed that in his controversial 2006 meeting with Lashkar-e-Taiba [LeT] founder Hafiz Saeed in Pakistan was not personal in nature but in pursuance with directions from New Delhi.
It’s left to the reader to decide whether New Delhi would use a person having no influence over the so-called ‘armed struggle’ to talk peace with an obdurate person who refuses to see beyond violence? But while his back-door diplomatic efforts yielded no positive results whatsoever, it definitely helped him in acquiring protection against persecution for his past crimes for decades. So, while he may feel being wronged and betrayed, Malik should realise that life-long immunity from legal persecution is a luxury enjoyed by a select few like Pakistan’s Field Marshal Asim Munir!
Generous inclusion of personal messages to his near and dear ones completes the JKLF chief’s Greek tragedy penned in the form of an affidavit. While Malik tells his mother that "I pray that your suffering may now come to an end and that you may find peace, strength and dignity," he asks his wife to “find the courage to begin a new chapter of your life with dignity and hope."
His message to his daughter is particularly poignant. Stating that “I have not heard your voice for the last eight years," adding that "Today, while I remain confined within my cell, I carry your memories with me every moment," he ends by writing "In my death cell, there is only myself and your photograph,"

Karma Hits Back

While the thought of a mother, wife and a thirteen-year-old daughter of a convicted criminal suffering for no fault of theirs is heart-wrenching, one should not forget that mothers, wives and children of several of his victims are also undergoing the same suffering. Moreover, while Malik had time to reflect before indulging in orchestrating killings/abductions, his victims never even got a chance to clear themselves of the charges they were accused of.
Even though it may appear to be a manifestation of the medieval ‘eye for an eye’ mindset, justice must prevail, and Malik being brought to book [albeit after several years] is a step in the right direction will bring to the family members of his hapless victims the long overdue sense of final closure.
The age-old ‘reap what you sow’ saying has finally come to pass.

Email:-----------------------nileshkunwar.56@gmail.com