Yasin Malik’s wife, advisor to interim Pak PM, debated over in Valley: The many roles of Mushaal Mullick

Last week, Kakar appointed Mushaal as one of five special advisers with minister status in his cabinet. Mushaal was given the human rights and women’s empowerment portfolios.

The BJP said Mushaal’s appointment was an indication of “a sabotage plan” in Kashmir. “Pakistan’s latest move to appoint Mushaal Hussein Mulllick as the human rights minister, hailed by certain Kashmiri leaders, is an indication of its Kashmir sabotage plan,” said Devender Singh Rana, former National Conference legislator who joined BJP, adding that Delhi would not just foil their attempts “but also teach them a lesson on their soil” if needed.

PDP president and former J&K chief minister Mehbooba Mufti saw Mushaal’s appointment as a lesson for the BJP, which has “dishonoured and disrespected” leaders who fought for the idea of India in Kashmir. “This is…an internal matter of Pakistan and I think the BJP government should learn a lesson from the Pakistani government,” Mufti said.

“The Pakistani government is trying to honour, to reward people who it thinks have been pleading their cause in Jammu and Kashmir…The BJP is dishonouring and disrespecting the very same people, like Sheikh (Abdullah), who was at the forefront of the accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India, and Mufti (Mohammad Sayeed) who fought for the idea of India his entire life.”

Mufti added that while Malik was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in a 2016 terror funding case, Mushaal herself is not involved in terror activities. She also drew a parallel with Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, a 2008 Malegaon blasts accused, given a ticket by BJP for the Lok Sabha and now a sitting MP.

Mushaal’s induction into the Pakistani cabinet has also caused some uneasy moments for the JKLF, which advocates for a Kashmir independent of India and Pakistan. The JKLF in Pakistan was quick to distance itself from Mushaal and her decision to join the Pakistani government.

“As the wife of Yasin Malik, we respect her, but she is not a member of the JKLF,” the separatist group’s leaders told the Pakistani media. “She has nothing to do with the JKLF or Malik’s ideology so she can’t represent Malik politically in any forum.”

A known painter, Mushaal, 37, hails from a prominent Pakistani family. Her father M A Hussein Mullick was a renowned economist and headed the Economics Department at the University of Bonn in Germany. He was also an adviser to former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Mushaal’s mother Rehana Hussein Mullick held a senior position in the women’s wing of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) party. Her sister Sabein Hussein Mullick is a social activist. Her brother Haider Ali Hussein Mullick is a public policy expert and a US Navy Reserve Officer, who also teaches at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

In her biography on X, formerly Twitter, Mushaal calls herself an artist, freedom fighter, craft revivalist, peace and human rights advocate and the “proud wife of a revolutionary – Mohammad Yasin Malik”.

Mushaal, who is a graduate from the London School of Economics, is believed to have first met Malik during his 2005 trip to Pakistan to garner support for his signature campaign for “Kashmiri independence”, organised by veteran Pakistani politician Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain.

Impressed by his recitation of a Faiz Ahmad Faiz poem, Mushaal reportedly insisted her mother introduce her to Malik. The two exchanged greetings and email addresses. On the day Malik was set to return to Kashmir, he called Mushaal and confessed his love for her.

Mushaal and Malik were set to get engaged in 2008. But before Malik could travel to Pakistan, he was arrested for organising a poll boycott rally. Instead, three of Malik’s friends travelled to Pakistan on his behalf to deliver the engagement ring. On the day of the engagement, Malik was in custody at a police station in Sumbal, about 20 km from Srinagar.

Their wedding was delayed twice after Malik was jailed in the Valley. Immediately after he was released in July 2009, he travelled to Pakistan to solemnise the wedding, which was attended by many top Pakistani political leaders, in Rawalpindi. In September 2009, when Mushaal visited Kashmir, she was received by a rousing procession of hundreds of locals.

The couple have a 12-year-old daughter, Raziya Sultan, who lives with her mother in Islamabad.