New Delhi/Srinagar, Jul 06: Asiya Andrabi, chief of the Kashmiri women’s separatist group “Dukhtaran-e-Milat” (Daughters of Faith), and two of her associates were remanded to 10-day National Investigation Agency (NIA) custody on Friday.
She was presented before a special NIA court here in connection with an alleged sedition case filed against her by the agency. The court allowed the NIA to quiz the three accused till July 16.
Andrabi, along with the two of her associates Sofi Fehmeeda and Nahida Nasreen, were taken from Srinagar Central Jail to the Srinagar Airport by NIA officers and then flown to Delhi, police sources said.
Andrabi had been in a prison in Srinagar after the Jammu and Kashmir High Court cancelled her bail last month.
The NIA, on directions of the Union Home Ministry, registered a case against them as well as the DeM organisation, which is banned under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, in April this year.
According to the FIR, the “central government has received information that one Aasiya Andrabi and her associates namely Sofi Fehmeeda and Nahida Nasreen are actively running a terrorist organization named as ‘Dukhtaran-e-Millat’ (DeM) which is proscribed under the First Schedule to the UAPA”.
“They are using various media platforms to spread insurrectionary imputations and hateful speeches that endanger the integrity, security and sovereignty of India. DeM through Aasiya Andrabi openly advocates secession of Jammu and Kashmir from the Union of India and has also called for Jihad and use of violence against India,” the FIR alleged.
The agency also said in the FIR that Andrabi and her associates had spoken, written and also published “visible representations that bring into hatred and contempt apart from exciting disaffection towards the Government of India”.
The organisation, it added, “is promoting enmity, hatred and ill-will between different communities on the grounds of religion and is doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony.”
“Andrabi has solicited help from proscribed terrorist organizations and along with her associates has entered into a criminal conspiracy to wage war against the Government of India,” the FIR alleged.
She was arrested by the Jammu and Kashmir Police in Anantnag in April this year for allegedly planning to organise a large-scale demonstration in the area. She was not released despite being granted bail by the court and was arrested in a different case.
Inspector General of Police (Kashmir range) Swayam Prakash Pani, who took over in February this year, is placing special emphasis on pursuing all cases against separatists and ensuring that justice is delivered at the earliest, officials said.
The High Court cancelled the bail of Andrabi and others in the case after police submitted its case diaries and the investigation was carried out.
It included the analysis of Andrabi’s phone that purportedly showed that she was in constant touch with militant leaders across the border.
Meanwhile, Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) has called for shutdown Saturday against the shifting of Dukhtaran-e-Millat (DeM) chief Asiya Andrabi and her two associates to New Delhi by National Investigation Agency (NIA).
In a statement here, JRL condemned the NIA action and termed it the “worst form of political vengeance and vendetta against the resistance leadership”.
JRL appealed people to observe complete shutdown and maintain civil curfew on July 07, against the shifting of Andrabi and her associates to Delhi, saying “Aasiya is suffering from many ailments but puppet rulers undemocratically shifted her to Delhi against fake allegations and keeping her incarcerated for raising voice for suppressed people.”
The incarceration, intimidations and leveling fake allegations against leadership and particularly DeM leadership is unacceptable and outcome of vengeance, JRL said.
Paying tributes to Burhan Wani and others, the JRL asked people to observe complete and statewide shutdown on July 08 as well, saying “the occupation forces are desperate to create differences, confusion, and their intentions to evolve civil war and infighting like situations is no longer a hidden agenda”.
Appealing people for unity, the JRL said “it is our prime duty to defeat all efforts of occupational forces, police, intelligence agencies and make their shrewd move a failure.”
