NIA declares all-women Dukhtaran-e-Millat terror outfit for supporting Hafiz Saeed, asking J&K cops to revolt

Srinagar: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has termed Dukhtaran-e-Millat , an all-woman outfit based in Kashmir as a “terrorist” organisation for openly supporting banned terrorist Hafiz Muhammad Saeed and asking the Jammu and Kashmir Police personnel to revolt against India and join Kashmir’s “freedom struggle”.

The announcement has come days after NIA registered a case against separatist leaders in Srinagar stating that they have been “acting in connivance with active militants of proscribed terrorist organisations like Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, Dukhtaran-e-Millat, Lashkar-e-Taiba and others for raising, receiving and collecting funds through various illegal means, including hawala, for funding separatist and terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir and for causing disruption in the Valley by way of pelting stones on the security forces, burning schools, damaging public property and waging war against India".

According to police officials, Dukhtaran-e-Millat and its chairperson, Asiya Andrabi, who is under judicial custody for over the last two and half months and has been detained under the Public Safety Act (PSA) for anti-India activities, has been preaching a more hardline policy on Kashmir and even showering praises on banned terrorist Saeed even though other separatist organisations have been stressing on starting a dialogue on Kashmir and emphasising on political engagement on Kashmir.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Srinagar, Imtiyaz Ismail Parray, said that the PSA detention orders were issued by the district magistrate. Police officials said that the order was based on a police report over her involvement in anti-India activities.

Most recently, after some Indian armed forces personnel beat up Jammu and Kashmir Police personnel in Kashmir after an Amarnath yatra convoy was not allowed to travel in night hours, the organisation asked the Jammu and Kashmir policemen to give up their jobs and fight for Kashmir’s freedom movement.

In a statement released after the incident, Dukhtaran-e-Millat had said, “The ruthless thrashing of the police personnel by the Indian army at Gund, Ganderbal must serve as an eye-opener to the Kashmiri cops and that they should now stop helping India maintain its illegal control over Jammu and Kashmir. Like the puppet government, the police too is run by Indian agencies and this police force, like Indian armed forces and agencies, is equally responsible for brutalising Kashmiris.”

Dukhtaran-e-Millat general secretary Nahida Nasreen had said, “The policemen must revolt against India and if they do so, it will be a major step towards our freedom.”

Nasreen had also criticised the Indian government for not allowing prayers at Jamia Masjid in Srinagar stating that “banning the prayers at the Jamia mosque proves that India is against Muslims and Islam”.

“The restrictions around religious places is a proof how these Hindu rulers hate Indian Muslim in general and Kashmiri Muslim in particular,” she had said. The ban was applied following apprehensions by the police that the people may take out protests.

Earlier, Nasreen demanded that Indian armed forces including, the Indian Army, Border Security Force (BSF) and the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force, troops besides the Jammu and Kashmir Police should be declared as “terrorist forces at international level as their only aim is to kill, maim and oppress the innocent people of Kashmir”.

Dukhtaran-e-Millat’s ideology

An all-women outfit, Dukhtaran-e-Millat was formed in 1987, and considers Kashmir as a “long pending dispute that has come into existence’’ through implementation of the “two nation theory".

The Dukhtaran-e-Millat holds the view that in 1947 when the Partition took place, Kashmir had to become a part of Pakistan due to its Muslim majority status, however, India never “allowed it to happen”.

Dukhtaran-e-Millat legitimises use of armed means for the settlement of the Kashmir problem espousing that Kashmiris are fighting for their freedom and existence using different means including political and armed ones, and the people have the right to do so under international laws.

The organisation has been demanding that there was no way for finding any new solution to the Kashmir problem, and is asking that the United Nations should pressurise India for implementing its resolutions in the state of Jammu Kashmir. As per Dukhtaran-e-Millat, it is envisaged in the charter of the United Nations that an “occupied nation, for its freedom and existence, can fight at any level using any medium”.

Who is Ayesha Andrabi?

According to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, the all-women outfit has grabbed attention due to controversial remarks made by Andrabi, particularly in the context of developments since year 2000.

Andrabi has been frequently in and out of prisons since 2015, when no curbs were placed on separatist leaders on their movements. Her husband Qasim Faktoo is in jail for over two decades after he was convicted in the murder case of a Kashmiri Pandit as an Hizbul Mujahideen militant. Fakhtoo, who was awarded life imprisonment has denied committing the murder.

The High Court Bar Association (HCBA) in Srinagar has been rooting for the release of Fakhtoo, who has already served 24 years in prison. Bashir Sidique, general secretary, HCBA, said, “The international human rights organisations should ensure justice for Qasim Fakhtoo in releasing him from the prison”.

Andrabi has been praising militants for killing government forces and even hailed people who had been converging at encounter sites and helping militants rescue from the cordons as “brave”.

Andrabi has been stressing that Saeed is spreading the message of Islam and was working hard against the “evil designs of Indian agencies in Balochistan to disintegrate Pakistan”. “The Islamic work of Saeed has not gone down well with the anti-Islam America and India is America’s partner in anti Islam agenda,” she said. On 14 August, 2015, Andrabi addressed a rally which was organised by Saeed in Pakistan on the phone, and had also celebrated the Pakistan’s Independence Day at her Srinagar residence.

The Dukhtaran-e-Millat is also full of praise for Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif and has termed Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a murderer. After Pakistan banned Jama’at-ud-Dawa, Andrabi strongly condemned condemned house detention of Saeed and four of his associates stating that this was done under pressure from India and US.