Malik states that, as a young boy, he had witnessed violence carried out on the streets by the security forces. In 1980, after witnessing an altercation between the army and taxi drivers, he is said to have become a rebel. He formed a party called the "Tala Party", which formed a revolutionary front, printing and distributing political materials and causing disturbances. His group was involved in attempting to disrupt the 1983 cricket match with West Indies in the Sher-i-Kashmir Stadium, disturbing National Conference gatherings in Srinagar and protesting Maqbool Bhat's execution. Malik was arrested and detained for four months.