Asiya Andrabi

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Asiya Andrabi
Born1962[1]
CitizenshipIndian
EducationBSc Biochemistry, M.A Arabic
Alma materUniversity of Kashmir
Political partyDukhtaran-e-Millat
Board member ofChairman of Dukhtaran-e-Millat
Spouse(s)Ashiq Hussain Faktoo
Children2

Asiya Andrabi is a Kashmiri separatist and founding leader of Dukhtaran-e-Millat . This group is part of the separatist organisation All Parties Hurriyat Conference in the Kashmir valley. Government of India has declared it as a "banned organization".[2] The organisation claims that it aims for the freedom of Kashmir from India .[3]


Asiya Andrabi remains one of the most important women separatists in the valley.[4] Asiya Andrabi was married to Qasim Faktoo (a founding member of the Hizbul Mujahideen) in 1990. Her husband is in jail since 1992. By then, Asiya was already the head of Kashmir's biggest network of 'women jihadis' (as she describes her 'lieutenants of Dukhtaran-e-Millat').[5][6]

Asiya Andrabi has taken part in various protests in the Kashmir valley. She is best known for supporting Masarat Alam in the 2010 Kashmir unrest across Kashmir by using her village network of Dukhtaran-e-Millat operatives for rally support.[5] She hoisted the Pakistan flag and sang the Pakistani national anthem in Kashmir on 25 March 2015.[7] Later on, she was booked for unfurling the Pakistan flag on its national day in Srinagar.[8] On 12 September 2015, she slaughtered a cow and released a video in a bid to defy the ban on sale of beef in Jammu and Kashmir.[9]

On 6 July 2018 Asiya was taken into custody by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), India's federal anti-terror organisation, for allegedly "waging war against India" and other unlawful activities.[10][11]

Personal life and education[edit]

Asiya did her BSc in Biochemistry. She did her post graduation in Arabic from Kashmir University.[5][12] She married Ashiq Hussain Faktoo in 1990.[5] As of 2015, Asiya's husband Dr. Faktoo has been in jail for 23 years.[5]

Her younger son, 15-year-old Ahmed bin Qasim, is in class IX in Srinagar while her older son, 22-year-old Muhammad bin Qasim, is living with Andrabi's elder sister in Malaysia. He is the captain of his university cricket team.[5] Most of Asiya’s relatives have shifted to Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, England and Malaysia.[13] One of her nephews, Zulqarnain is a captain in the Pakistan Army and a second nephew Irtiyaz-un-Nabi is an aeronautical engineer and lecturer in the International Islamic University, Islamabad.[13]

Andrabi founded her religious beliefs on the teachings of the neo-fundamentalist Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith,[1] which adheres to the pristine teachings of Islam as to accept everything which is good according to religious text and reject what has not been enjoined by the Islamic Shariah.[14]

Role in Kashmir politics[edit]

In pro-Pakistan activism and separatism, Asiya is senior to Syed Ali Shah Geelani who used to be a member of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly in the 1980s when she founded Dukhtaran-e-Millat.[13] In 1982, Asiya was associated with a Madrassa ‘Talimul Quran’ for women which was later turned into Dukhtaran-e-Millat. She started inviting women to read, understand and practice their faith. She was accused of mobilizing women against India.[15]

On inspiration behind formation of "Dukhtaran-e-Millat" she said,

“I was an ambitious girl. I was shocked by this objection on my wish to study outside. But in that disappointed state Mayil Khairabadi’s book 'Khawateen ki Baatein' came to my rescue."

The cover story of the book was of Maryam Jameela, a Christian woman who converts to Islam after studying the religion thoroughly. For Asiya, Jameela’s story was “an eye opener” to practice Islam. Then Asiya turned to be fundamentalist Muslim.[12]

Asiya shot into prominence in the late 1980s when she launched the DeM essentially against social vices.[16] However, she jumped into the separatist campaign, which began with the armed insurgency in 1990.[16] In 1993 she was arrested for her anti-national activities, was later released in 1994, and she went underground until 2004.[12] Asiya faced monthly arrests in 2007 to 2009. During the unrest of 2010, she was held for two consecutive years.[12] Along with Masarat Alam (leader of the pro-Pakistan Muslim League), Asiya is believed to be one of the masterminds of the protests of 2010,[17] and they spearheaded the “Quit Jammu and Kashmir” campaign.[16] In 1982, Asiya was associated with a Darsgah Talimul Quran for women which was later turned into Dukhtaran-e-Millet. She started inviting women to read, understand and practice their faith. “This was the aim of my life now. We mobilized to bring Islam in our society,” she added. One of the campaigns of the Darsgah was to demand reserved seats for ladies in local buses while other was to remove posters of nude women across the cinema halls – before the era of Militancy started in the valley. It was only after five years of the formation of her organization, the government objected. “After the elections were held in 1987, darsgahs were locked throughout the valley. When they reached us, our women resisted. I was young and full of passion to resist,” Asiya added. “But police raided my house and office. They told my father that I was mobilizing women against India but he retorted saying that I was just trying to bring social reform,” she recalls. [18]

Arrests[edit]

She was arrested on 28 August 2010 by Jammu and Kashmir Police for waging war against India and for inciting violence.[19] She was again arrested on 17 September 2015[20] in connection with a couple of cases registered against her. The cases included waving Pakistani flags and addressing, via phone, a conference in Pakistan recently. Andrabi, who was not keeping well, as per DeM sources, was sent to Women's Police Station, Rambagh, Srinagar.[21] The court granted her bail,[22] but she was arrested again, and Kashmiris protested against her rearrest.[23]

On 6 July 2018 Asiya and two others connected to her, Nahida Nasreen and Sofi Fahmeeda, were shifted from Srinagar jail and brought to New Delhi by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). They have been booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for sedition apart from other things.[10][11][24] Following this, on 16 July 2018, a Delhi court ordered the three to one month of judicial custody at Tihar Jail.[25]

Criticism[edit]

  • Asiya has been criticised for inciting the Kashmiri youth to Jihad and "freedom fight" against India, while her own son is pursuing higher studies in Malaysia on an Indian passport.[26]
  • Dr. Darakshan Andrabi who is the president of Socialistic Democratic Party of Jammu and Kashmir (also a Kashmiri politician ) said in 2010,[27][28]

"I was the first one to talk about the duality that Asiya was adopting. We were happy that she wanted her son to secure an Indian passport and study IT in Malaysia but this should apply for all Kashmiri youth. Asiya should ask all Kashmiris to secure an Indian passport and educate themselves. Instead she exhorts the youth to shun everything and anything that is India."

  • In 2001, she spearheaded a campaign to infuse a sense of modesty into Kashmiri women, which was criticised by members of the Kashmiri community.[29]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Inside Kashmir's New Islamist movement". The Hindu. 19 August 2010. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  2. ↑ "Banned Organisations | Ministry of Home Affairs | GoI". mha.gov.in. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
  3. ↑ "Life and times of Asiya Andrabi – PKKH.tv". 11 March 2014. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  4. ↑ "Kashmir Lit". 9 December 2019.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 "For the first family of militancy, a troubled road – Times of India". Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  6. ↑ "Dr Qasim Faktoo completes 22 yrs in incarceration". Greater Kashmir. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  7. ↑ TIMES NOW (24 March 2015). "I Hoisted Pakistan Flag & Sung Pakistani National Anthem – Asiya Andrabi". Archived from the original on 18 December 2021. Retrieved 25 August 2016 – via YouTube.
  8. ↑ "J&K: Separatist Asiya Andrabi booked for unfurling Pakistan flag on its national day in Srinagar". 25 March 2015. Archived from the original on 25 March 2015. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  9. ↑ "Hurriyat leader Asiya slaughters cow to defy ban in Srinagar". Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Dukhtaran-e-Milat chief Asiya Andrabi, two others taken into NIA custody - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 "NIA arrests Dukhtaran-e-Millat chief Asiya Andrabi, 2 aides in sedition case". India Today. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 "Life and times of Asiya Andrabi". Rahiba R Parveen. Pakistan Ka Khuda Hafiz(Policy Institute of Pakistan). 11 March 2014. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Fayyaz, Ahmed Ali (11 September 2013). "Asiya Andrabi's 3 nephews arrested in Pakistan for "terror links"". The Hindu. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  14. ↑ "Markazi Jamiat Ahle Hadees Hind". Archived from the original on 15 August 2016. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  15. ↑ "Life and times of Asiya Andrabi". Pakistan Ka Khuda Hafiz. 11 March 2014. Archived from the original on 17 November 2015. Retrieved 6 May 2015. Read 35th line
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 Bukhari, Shujaat (29 August 2010). "A mastermind of Kashmir protests". The Hindu. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  17. ↑ "Interpreting the Kashmiri vote". The Hindu. 13 December 2014. Retrieved 26 April 2015. Read 7th Paragraph where they blamed the then CM Omar Abdullah and the police force under him for killings of 112 people.
  18. ↑ "Kashmir Lit". 9 December 2019.
  19. ↑ Shujaat Bukhari (28 August 2010). "Asiya Andrabi arrested". The Hindu. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  20. ↑ "J&K: Separatist Asiya Andrabi arrested for hoisting Pakistani flag". 18 September 2015. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  21. ↑ "J-K separatist leader Asiya Andrabi arrested in Srinagar". Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  22. ↑ "Court grants bail to Asiya Andrabi". Kasmir Reader. 25 September 2015. Archived from the original on 4 October 2015.
  23. ↑ Dukhtaran-e-Millat protests Asiya's re-arrest in Srinagar. Greaterkashmir.com (1 October 2015). Retrieved on 2017-06-07.
  24. ↑ "JK HC grants cancels bail granted to Asiya Andrabi, 4 others in terror-related case". India Today. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
  25. ↑ "Court sends Kashmiri separatist Asiya Andrabi, two others to one-month judicial custody". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
  26. ↑ "Andrabi Seeking Indian Passport for Son Hypocrisy: Omar". Outlook. 18 August 2010. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  27. ↑ ""Omar has failed Kashmir", "Asiya is adopting duality"". Indian Express. 29 August 2010. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  28. ↑ "We are for tricolour flag and our future lies with India: Andrabi". Blog of Darakshan Andrabi. Retrieved 31 July 2008.
  29. ↑ Kashmiri women bear the brunt again. The Hindu (14 September 2001). Retrieved on 2017-06-07.
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