Mushaal Hussain Malik, the wife of Kashmiri separatist and terrorist Yasin Malik, has been included in Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar‘s caretaker government, which took the oath of office on 17 August. This is a rare development because a Kashmiri separatist leader rarely serves in Pakistan‘s federal ministry. However, she has been appointed as the prime minister’s special assistant for human rights rather than a full minister.
On 17th August, the 19-member cabinet of the caretaker took oath in Islamabad, where 16 federal ministers and 3 advisers to the PM took oath. On the other hand, Mushaal Hussein Mullick has been appointed as a special assistant of the Prime Minster on human rights. Khalil George has been made the cabinet minister in that portfolio.
In the interim cabinet, former central bank chief Shamshad Akhtar was appointed as finance minister and Pakistan’s former ambassador to the United States, Jalil Abbas Jilani, was named foreign minister. Pakistan President Arif Alvi on Thursday administered oath to members of newly appointed caretaker PM Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar’s cabinet.
Earlier there were reports speculating that Yasin Malik’s wife will be included in the cabinet as an adviser, but later it was reported that she has been made a special assistant of the PM. Dawn has published the full list of 16 ministers and 3 advisers appointed today, and her name does not feature in this list.
While advisors and special assistants are permitted to hold dual citizenship, full ministers are required to be Pakistani citizens. Mushaal Hussein Mullick is from Pakistan-Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, called Azad Kashmir by Pakistan, and has long advocated against Indian Kashmir.
She married Yasin Malik in Rawalpindi on 22 February 2009. The two reportedly got acquainted in 2005 while he was touring Pakistan. She lives with her 12-year-old daughter Razia Sultana in Islamabad. She is a London School of Economics alumnus.
Yasin Malik is the Chairman of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front, which originally spearheaded armed militancy in the Kashmir Valley. He pleaded guilty to charges of criminal conspiracy and waging war against the state in May 2022 and was sentenced to life imprisonment. He was arrested in early 2019 in connection with a 2017 terror-funding case registered by National Investigation Agency (NIA).
Yasin Malik is also charged with the murders of four Air Force officers in January 1990. Squadron leader Ravi Khanna was one of the four members of the Indian Air Force assassinated by him and other JKLF terrorists when they were waiting to board buses at Sant Nagar Crossing.
A female officer was among the 40 personnel that were wounded in the occurrence that happened on 25 January during the shootout that he himself commanded. He has also been one of the primary figures who led the Kashmiri Hindu genocide in the 1990s. He is presently lodged in Tihar Jail.
Pakistan’s caretaker Prime Minister has selected a new cabinet ahead of the national elections due in early November. Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, a relatively lesser-known political figure believed to have military ties, assumed office as Pakistan’s caretaker prime minister on 14 August. He was picked at a time when the country is facing both political and economic difficulties, and he will serve as president until a new administration is formed.
