Asiya Andrabi, chief of banned women’s group Dukhtaran-e-Millat, was in a Kashmir jail in a case of stone-pelting and arranging a demonstration in the Valley.
New Delhi: Asiya Andrabi, chief of a banned women’s separatist group, and two of her associates were arrested and brought to Delhi from Srinagar Friday by the National Investigation Agency in connection with a case of waging war against India through hate speeches.
The arrest comes a day after union home minister Rajnath Singh reviewed the security situation and developmental issues in the state at a high-level meeting in Srinagar, which was also attended by J&K governor N.N. Vohra, national security adviser Ajit Doval, union home secretary Rajiv Gauba, among others.
This is the first time that the NIA will be questioning Andrabi, chief of the Dukhtaran-e-Millat, in Delhi.
In April last year, the agency had registered the case against the trio accusing them of carrying out anti-national and secessionist activities in the Valley and initiating violence.
Andrabi, along with her associates — Nahia Nasreen and Sofi Fahmeeda — were lodged in Kashmir’s central jail after they were arrested in a separate case of stone-pelting and arranging a demonstration in the Valley in May last year.
All three will be produced in a special NIA court at the Patiala House courts complex and the agency will seek their custody.
“Andrabi and her associates have been brought to Delhi this morning and will now be produced in the court. We are going to seek their custody for questioning in a case that we had registered against them in April this year,” NIA spokesperson Alok Mittal said.
Andrabi, who is also a member of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, had applied for bail in Srinagar, but it was cancelled by the Jammu and Kashmir High Court.
“It was found that despite the ban on her organisation, Andrabi was in constant touch with militant leaders across the border and continued to deliver inflammatory speeches against the nation influencing the youths,” Mittal said.
The case
After the home ministry banned Dukhtaran-e-Millat, the NIA registered a case against Andrabi and her associates under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, for carrying out anti-national activities.
The FIR said the central government received information that Andrabi and her associates were actively running a terrorist organisation named Dukhtaran-e-Millat (DEM), which is proscribed under the First Schedule to the UAPA.
The FIR also said the organisation was also using several 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 read.
“It was found that Andrabi and her associates had spoken and also published representations that bring into hatred, contempt and disaffection towards the Government of India,” an officer said.
He claimed Andrabi had taken help from other terror outfits to plan a “war against the nation”.
These individuals are clearly part of the problem. However, as and when a meaningful dialogue starts, they would have to be considered part of the solution as well,