A Delhi NIA court has convicted Kashmiri separatist leader Asiya Andrabi and two associates under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). Andrabi, chief of the banned group Dukhtaran-e-Millat, was arrested in 2018. This marks the second such conviction since the 2019 abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir's special status, following Yasin Malik.
Asiya Andrabi, a 62-year-old separatist leader, founded Dukhtaran-e-Millat (DeM), originally a women's group for social reform. The central government banned it as a terrorist organization in 2018. The NIA registered a case against her under UAPA in April 2018, charging her with waging war against the country, sedition, and criminal conspiracy. She was arrested in July 2018 from Srinagar jail, where she was held in a Jammu and Kashmir Police case. Her associates, Nahida Nasreen and Fahmeeda Sofi, were also convicted.
Born in 1963, Andrabi is a home science graduate who broke away from Jamaat-e-Islami in 1985 to form DeM. In 1990, she married Ashiq Hussain Faktoo, a top militant commander serving a life sentence. Her first arrest came in 1993, lasting 13 months, and she faced multiple detentions under the Public Safety Act (PSA).
The NIA accused her of using media platforms to spread insurrectionary statements and hateful speeches advocating violence against India and the secession of Jammu and Kashmir. Former NIA Inspector General Alok Mittal stated, “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.”
In July 2019, the NIA attached her Srinagar house. The conviction reinforces the Centre's policy against separatists in Kashmir, though it is unlikely to impact the ground situation amid the ongoing crackdown on separatist groups.