Mehbooba asks Home Minister Shah to view Yasin Malik case through 'humanitarian lens'

Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti on Friday wrote to Union Home Minister Amit Shah urging him to look at Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chief Yasin Malik’s case through a “humanitarian lens” as he had renounced violence and chosen the path of political engagement.

Malik, currently lodged in New Delhi’s Tihar Jail, is serving a life sentence in a terror funding case. He has also claimed to be suffering from serious cardiac and kidney ailments, describing his condition as a “life and death situation.”

“I’ve written to Shri Amit Shah ji to view Yasin Malik’s case through a humanitarian lens. While I differ with his political ideology, one cannot ignore the courage it took him to renounce violence and choose the path of political engagement and non-violent dissent,” Mufti said in a post on X.

She also posted the letter written to the home minister on her X handle. “I earnestly appeal to your esteemed office for a compassionate and urgent review of the case of Yasin Malik, a name that once symbolised resistance, later chose restraint and now remains silenced behind prison walls,” the former chief minister wrote in the letter to Shah.

Mufti said Malik underwent profound transformation as he placed trust in the state by renouncing violence. “Yasin Malik’s journey is no secret to the Indian state. In 1994, he took a courageous and rare decision to lay down arms and embrace political, non-violent means to pursue change.”

“According to his (Malik’s) sworn affidavits (before the Delhi High Court), this shift was neither unilateral nor impulsive but encouraged and facilitated through back channel understanding with Indian agencies,” the PDP president said.

Noting that “brute force must give way to the healing touch of dialogue, and constitutional rights must be restored,” Mufti said, “In light of Malik’s long-standing commitment to non-violence, the urgent need for reconciliation, and the humanitarian dimensions of this case, I earnestly implore your office to consider a compassionate reassessment.”

“This appeal does not seek to undermine the judiciary’s authority but calls for the responsible exercise of democratic instruments to honour both justice and mercy. The spirit of India, I firmly believe, lies in our capacity to show magnanimity and uphold promises made in pursuit of peace,” she said.

Mehbooba Mufti’s appeal comes even as her sister, Rubaiya Sayeed, had in 2022 identified Malik as one of the accused in her 1989 abduction. She is listed as a prosecution witness in the case being pursued by the CBI.

The appeal also drew sharp criticism from People’s Conference chief and Handwara MLA Sajad Lone, who accused Mufti of hypocrisy and political theatrics.

“Stop this drama. Both families (PDP and NC) must first seek forgiveness from the people of Kashmir before claiming to defend anyone on humanitarian grounds. As long as your hands are stained with false cases and blood, you have no moral right to use anyone’s sacrifice for political theatrics. You cannot both kill people and then cry over them,” Lone said.