Â鶹´«Ã½

Skip to main content

11-year-old daughter of top Kashmiri rebel leader issues rare appeal to visit father jailed in India

Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) Chairman Yasin Malik, center in black clothing, walks in a protest march in Srinagar, India, Friday, April 19, 2013. (Dar Yasin/AP Photo) Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) Chairman Yasin Malik, center in black clothing, walks in a protest march in Srinagar, India, Friday, April 19, 2013. (Dar Yasin/AP Photo)
Share
ISLAMABAD -

The eleven-year-old daughter of a prominent Kashmiri rebel leader who was sentenced to life in prison in neighboring India issued an emotional appeal on Thursday, urging New Delhi to allow her to meet her ailing father.

Razia Sultan, the daughter of Mohammed Yasin Malik, 57, made this emotional demand after she was allowed to address the regional legislative assembly in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

"I was only two years old when I met my father. I have now turned 11," she said in a televised speech. "I miss my father like anything. I crave to hear his voice."

Sultan said she would hold Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi responsible if any harm was caused to her father. She said she hoped that one day her father would be released, and he had been wrongly sentenced in a "fake case."

Malik was arrested in 2019 and was sentenced to life in prison last year by an Indian court on charges of terrorism and sedition. His arrest triggered clashes between protesters and police in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir. Two months ago, the Indian National Investigation Agency had also approached the New Delhi High Court seeking the death penalty for Malik. The court has yet to rule on that.

During his trial, Malik protested the charges against him, saying was a freedom fighter. "If seeking azadi (freedom) is a crime, then I am ready to accept this crime and its consequences," he told the judge ahead of his conviction.

Malik for years had headed the banned Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, one of the first armed rebel groups in Indian-controlled Kashmir, but he later shifted to a peaceful struggle to seek an end to Indian rule in Kashmir.

In 2009, Malik traveled to Pakistan, where he married Mushaal Hussein, and he has only one daughter.

Kashmir is divided between Pakistan and India and is claimed by both in its entirety. The countries have fought two of their wars over Kashmir. Rebels have been fighting since 1989 for Kashmir's independence from India or its merger with Pakistan.

Most Muslim Kashmiris support the rebel goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country.

CTVNews.ca Top Stories

Two and a half years after losing her best friend and first love to suicide, Brooke Ford shared her story of grief and resilience at the CMHA Windsor-Essex Suicide Awareness Walk.

An Ottawa driver has been charged with stunt driving after being caught going 154 km/h on Highway 417, according to the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP).

opinion

opinion How to make the most out of your TFSA

The Tax-Free Savings Account can be a powerful savings tool and investment vehicle. Financial contributor Christopher Liew explains how they work and how to take full advantage of them so you can reach your financial goals faster.

Local Spotlight

A tale about a taxicab hauling gold and sinking through the ice on Larder Lake, Ont., in December 1937 has captivated a man from that town for decades.

When a group of B.C. filmmakers set out on a small fishing boat near Powell River last week, they hoped to capture some video for a documentary on humpback whales. What happened next blew their minds.

A pizza chain in Edmonton claims to have the world's largest deliverable pizza.

Sarah McLachlan is returning to her hometown of Halifax in November.

Wayne MacKay is still playing basketball twice at Mount Allison University at 87 years old.

A man from a small rural Alberta town is making music that makes people laugh.

An Indigenous artist has a buyer-beware warning ahead of Sept. 30, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

Police are looking to the public for help after thieves broke into a Lethbridge ice creamery, stealing from the store.

An ordinary day on the job delivering mail in East Elmwood quickly turned dramatic for Canada Post letter carrier Jared Plourde. A woman on his route was calling out in distress.