MUZAFFARABAD: The Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) on Wednesday condemned the Indian government’s decision to implicate its jailed chairman, Yasin Malik, in the 1990 murder of Sarla Bhat, maintaining that neither Mr Malik nor the organisation had any connection with the case.

In a statement, JKLF chief spokesman and Mr Malik’s special representative, Muhammad Rafiq Dar, said the Indian government was attempting to secure a death sentence for the incarcerated leader by implicating him in multiple criminal cases.

He claimed that after pursuing cases relating to terror funding, the killing of Indian Air Force personnel and the kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed, Indian authorities had now charge-sheeted Mr Malik and some of his associates in the 36-year-old murder case of Sarla Bhat, a nurse at Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), Srinagar, who was abducted, reportedly raped and killed in April 1990.

Mr Dar rejected the allegations, insisting that neither the JKLF nor Mr Malik had any involvement in the murder.

He also criticised the inclusion of deceased JKLF leaders Sheikh Abdul Hameed, Muhammad Yousuf (Idrees) and G.M. Tiploo in the case, terming the move “shameful” and alleging that it was aimed at silencing the Kashmiri pro-freedom leadership.

Published in Dawn, July 2nd, 2026