NIA books Kashmir separatist Asiya Andrabi, says she runs a terror outfit

Srinagar: June 29: Taking the fight to the separatists, the National Investigation has registered an FIR against Dukhtaran-e-Milat chief, Asiya Andrabi. The FIR alleges that she used various media platforms to spread hate through her speeches to endanger the integrity, security and sovereignty of India.

She however dismissed the FIR as an attempt to muzzle her voice. According to Inspector General NIA, Alok Mittal said that the probe has been taken up and a case to this effect has been registered with the NIA police station in New Delhi.

"The Central government has received information that one Aasiya Andrabi and her associates namely Sofi Fehmeeda and Nahida Nasreen are actively running a terrorist organisation named as Dukhtaran-E-Millat which is proscribed under the First Schedule to the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.

They are using various media platforms to spread insurrectionary imputations and hateful speeches that endanger the integrity, security and sovereignty of India. The DEM through Aasiya Andrabi openly advocates secession of Jammu & Kashmir from the Union of India and has also called for jihad and use of violence against India," states the FIR.

T he NIA has charged Aasiya and her associates with "written and spoken words that bring into hatred and contempt apart from exciting disaffection towards the Government of India".

"DEM is promoting enmity, hatred and ill-will between different communities on the grounds of religion and is doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony. Aasiya Andrabi has solicited help from proscribed militant organisations and along with her associates has entered into a criminal conspiracy to wage war against Government of India," the also states.

Crackdown:

The government is expected to tighten the noose around Kashmiri separatist leaders who were allegedly involved in terror funding and money laundering, officials said. This would be done through coordinated action by the NIA and the ED, they said.

The issue was discussed threadbare at a high-level meeting chaired by Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba and attended by Director General of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Yogesh Chander Modi, Director of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) Karnal Singh besides others.

A coordinated action is likely to be taken against the Kashmiri separatists who were allegedly involved in terror funding and money laundering, an official privy to the meeting said. The meeting bears significance as it was held days after the central government imposed Governor's rule in Jammu and Kashmir, and has started offensives against terrorists involved in subversive activities in the state.

The NIA had already filed a charge sheet in a Delhi court against terror masterminds Hafiz Saeed and Syed Salahuddin and 10 Kashmiri separatists in a case of alleged terror funding and secessionist activities in the Valley.

Besides Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Saeed and Hizbul Mujahideen head Salahuddin, the other 10 persons accused in the final report include Hurriyat leader Syed Shah Geelani's son-in-law Altaf Ahmed Shah, Geelani's personal assistant Bashir Ahmad Bhat, Aftab Ahmad Shah, media advisor and strategist of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Nayeem Ahmad Khan, Chairman of secessionist outfit National Front and Farooq Ahmad Dar, Chairman of Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (R). Mohammad Akbar Khanday, media advisor of All Parties Hurriyat Conference (Geelani faction), Raja Mehrajuddin Kalwal, office-bearer of Tehreek-e-Hurriyat, Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watal, a Hawala conduit and two stone-pelters - Kamran Yusuf and Javed Ahmad Bhat are also accused in the report.

The ED is actively investigating at least a dozen terror financing cases in Jammu and Kashmir under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). The ED had already framed charges against Kashmiri separatist leader Shabir Shah and alleged Hawala dealer Muhammad Aslam Wani in a money laundering case.

Wani, arrested on August 6, 2017, had reportedly confessed that he passed on Hawala money amounting to Rs 2.25 crore to Shah. Shah was arrested on July 25, 2017, on charges of money laundering in a case dating back to 2005 when the Delhi Police Special Cell had arrested Wani.