NIA charges Asiya Andrabi with antinational activities

NEWDELHI/SRINAGAR: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday said it has formally charged Kashmiri separatist Asiya Andrabi and her two associates — Sofi Fehmeeda and Naheeda Nasreen — with anti-national activities through propaganda on social and other media platforms and inciting Kashmiri boys for armed and violent rebellion against India.

The agency also alleged that Andrabi has close ties with designated “Global Terrorist Hafeez Mohammad Saeed who is head of Jamaat-Ud-Dawah (JuD) and Lashkar-E-Taiba (LeT)”.

Andrabi acts as chief of the proscribed terrorist outfit Dukhtaran-e-Millat (DEM), while Sofi Fehmeeda is her personal secretary and Nasreen is described as general secretary of the outfit.

“The accused were using media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, TV channels in Pakistan, to spread insurrectionary imputations and hateful messages and speeches against India. The DEM, through Asiya Andrabi, openly advocates secession of Jammu and Kashmir from India and its merger with Pakistan through violent means,” said the NIA.

Security officials say Andrabi has been indulging in anti-India propaganda for years now and the J&K has administration has acted against her many times.

The NIA said Andrabi and her associates are running the DEM which is a designated terrorist outfit under the First Schedule to the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Andrabi was arrested in the case in July this year and is lodged in Tihar jail.