Kashmiri political leader Yasin Malik, chairman of the Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), has been sentenced to life imprisonment and 10 years of “rigorous imprisonment” (slave labor) by the Indian state today, three years after his latest arrest in April 2019.
Since 1980, Malik has shaken the foundations of the Indian state by coordinating resistance to state agents who have contributed to the genocide in Kashmir, and also through his catalyzing of peaceful resistance. Though Malik and his faction of the JKLF have never targeted civilians and have been committed to peaceful resistance since 1994, his struggle against the state has landed him the highly subjective charge of “terrorism,” much like other revolutionaries of the world such as Abdullah Ocalan.
India’s descent into authoritarianism has become especially prominent this year, with an ever-expanding political prisoner population whom are frequently sentenced to “rigorous imprisonment.” The Modi regime has concentrated the state’s power by eliminating regional autonomy and enforcing pro-Hindu ethnic cleansing policies. As the BJP ruling class normalizes police statism as a response to dissent, democracy in the subcontinent suffers gravely.
