JKLF chief Mohammad Yasin Malik implicated in 35-year-old murder case

KASHMIRI leader Mohammad Yasin Malik, who has been imprisoned by India on terrorism charges for more than four years now, has now been implicated in the 36-year-old murder case of a nurse in Srinagar, Indian media reported on Monday.

Malik, who is the chairman of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), was named by India’s State Investigation Agency (SIA) as one of five men charge sheeted for the killing of Sarla Bhat, who was killed in 1990.

The investigation into her murder, which went cold several years ago, was reopened by former lieutenant governor of India-held Kashmir Manoj Sinha to appease local pressure groups.

Earlier, in 2017, the Indian Supreme Court had declined to reopen several Kashmiri Pandit murder cases, citing that the mass killings took place nearly three decades prior, and it was difficult to gather reliable evidence and witnesses, the Indian Express reported. In 2023, Kashmiri pandit groups approached Sinha, who directed the police to prepare a list of killings from the 1990s. The Sarla Bhat case was subsequently transferred to the SIA in March 2024 for a fresh probe, according to the Hindustan Times.

Investigators submit 737-page charge sheet naming Yasin Malik and six others, three of whom are now deceased

In a statement, the SIA said the investigation was based on oral, documentary, forensic, ballistic, medical and electronic evidence collected and analysed over the years.

Apart from Malik, the 737-page charge sheet names Khursheed Ahmad Chalkoo, Abdul Hamid Sheikh, Ghulam Mohammad Taploo and Mohammad Yousuf Sofi as accused.

According to the Hindustan Times, three of the accused are now dead, while Mr Malik has been languishing in Tihar jail in connection with separate trumped up terror charges since 2019.

Published in Dawn, June 30th, 2026 ...