Who is Asiya Andrabi, separatist leader convicted by NIA court in UAPA case?

The central agency had registered a case under the UAPA against Andrabi and her associates in April 2018 for being “part of a banned organisation, waging war against the state, sedition and criminal conspiracy”.

An avowed separatist, the 62-year-old Andrabi is the founder of Dukhtaran-e-Millat (DeM), a women’s organisation originally formed for social reformation. In 2018, the central government declared it a terrorist organisation and banned it.

A home science graduate, Andrabi was born in 1963. After completing her bachelor’s degree in Srinagar, she wanted to pursue post-graduation in Darjeeling but was not permitted by her parents. She then began reading Islamic literature, which “changed” her outlook, and joined the women’s wing of Jamaat-e-Islami, a socio-political party that was banned by the Centre in 2019.

In 1985, Andrabi broke away from Jamaat-e-Islami and formed Dukhtaran-e-Millat as a reformist organisation. The outfit rose to prominence in 1991, when it launched a campaign to enforce the veil in the Valley.

In 1990, Andrabi married Ashiq Hussain Faktoo, popularly known as Mohammad Qasim, one of the top militant commanders in the Valley. Faktoo is serving a life sentence.

A mother of two, Andrabi was arrested for the first time in 1993 for 13 months along with her husband and infant child. She was subsequently arrested several times under the Public Safety Act (PSA).

Andrabi, whose Dukhtaran-e-Millat launched campaigns against Valentine’s Day celebrations, calling them “un-Islamic”, was seen as one of the most hardline separatist leaders, unafraid to criticise even separatist patriarch Syed Ali Geelani.

After her arrest, the NIA attached her Srinagar house in July 2019 — the first separatist leader against whom such action was taken by the central agency.

However, following her arrest and the Centre’s crackdown on separatist outfits in the Valley, Dukhtaran-e-Millat, like many other such organisations, has become virtually defunct.

In the FIR registered on April 27, the NIA accused Andrabi and others of being part of a proscribed organisation, waging war against the country, sedition, criminal conspiracy, obstructing or attempting to obstruct the governor/president from discharging his duty, inciting riots, promoting enmity between communities and public mischief, and inciting mutiny against the government.

“The allegations against the accused persons are that they have been using various media platforms to spread insurrectionary imputations and hateful speeches that advocate use of violence against India and secession of the State of Jammu & Kashmir from the Union of India,” former NIA Inspector General Alok Mittal said.

Andrabi is the second separatist leader convicted by an NIA court after JKLF chairman Yasin Malik. While the convictions are unlikely to have any impact on the ground, given the squeezing of separatist space following the Centre’s crackdown, they reaffirm the Centre’s policy towards separatists and separatism in Kashmir.