Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front Chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik and his Pakistani bride Mishal Mullick arrived in Srinagar on Sunday to an affectionate welcome both at the airport and at his uptown Maisuma locality in capital Srinagar.

The duo had tied nuptial knot in Islamabad in February last and it is first time that Mishal Mullick landed in Srinagar after her marriage.

Friends and relatives greeted the couple as they left the airport in a bedecked car.

The couple later drove straight to the Maisuma residence of Yasin Malik where ladies of the locality greeted them with traditional wedding songs called 'wanwun'.

Talking to media persons, the JKLF chairman said his wife, an internationally acclaimed artist, would not be part of any political activity.

Mishal was visibly impressed with the reception she got from the Maisuma locality.

The Pakistani-born Mishal holds a degree in political economy from London School of Economics and belongs to a wealthy family.

Yasin Malik is the third separatist leader to have a foreign spouse. The other two include Mirwaiz Moulvi Umar Farooq, who married a US national, and Sajjad Gani Lone, who married a Pakistani girl and daughter of JKLF founder Amanullah Khan.

Reportage: Mukhtar Ahmad | Photograph: Danish Ismail/Reuters