SRINAGAR: The hardline woman separatist leader and chairperson of Dukhtaran-e-Millat (daughters of nation), Asiya Andrabi was arrested by police from her residence in Srinagar.
A spokesperson of Dukhtaran said a large contingent of police raided her residence at Soura area in outskirts of Srinagar at around 11.30 pm last night.
The cops arrested Asiya Andrabi and her personal secretary Sofi Fehmeeda and lodged them in woman police station at Rambagh, Srinagar, she said.
Police sources said Asiya has been arrested for her anti-India activities and may be booked under stringent Public Safety Act (PSA).
Asiya is married to separatist leader Ashiq Hussain Faktoo, who is serving life imprisonment.
In a hard-hitting statement yesterday, Asiya had said Jammu and Kashmir was not part of India and anyone forcing people in Kashmir to acknowledge “India’s illegal occupation” as “genuine” will have to face wrath of general masses.
On March 23 this year, Asiya alongwith other women activists of Dukhtaran had assembled somewhere in Srinagar and celebrated the Pakistan National day.
In the video, which had gone viral on social media, the burqa clad activists of Dukhataran were singing Pakistan national anthem and waving Pakistani flags to celebrate country’s National Day.
Earlier, on October 4 last year, Asiya was arrested by police for organizing and leading anti-India protests by women in different parts of the Valley after outbreak of unrest following killing of 21-year-old Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani on July 8, 2016.
Reacting to Asiya’s arrest, Dukhatarn spokesperson said by arresting their leadership and cadres, India cannot break their resolve.
“We will continue to resist against its illegal occupation until we see the dawn of freedom from India and become part of Pakistan,” she said.
The Lashkar-e-Toiba chief Mahmood Shah also condemned arrest of Asiya and her political secretary.
He warned the police officials and policemen involved in arresting Asiya.
Banned social networking sites accessible
The 22 social networking sites and instant messaging services banned by Jammu and Kashmir government yesterday were accessible in most parts of the Valley today.
The internet users could access the banned sites and applications using broadband connections, internet services provided by a private service provider or 2G network on their mobile phones.
The State government had yesterday asked internet service providers to stop services of 22 social media and instant messaging services including Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp, QQ, WeChat, Tumblr, Google+, Baidu, Skype, Viber, Line, Snapchat, Pinterest, Telegram, Reddit, Snapfish, Youtube (upload), Vine, Xanga, Buzznet and Flickr with immediate effect for a month.
Sources said the private telecom companies have informed the state government that they were unable to block these sites.
“The telecom companies have told the state government to suspend the mobile services in the Valley as it would be difficult for them to block the sites,” they said.
Sources said it would take some time for the companies to implement the government order and ban the 22 social networking sites and instant messaging services.
After the Valley-wide student protests, the State government has suspended 3G and 4G mobile internet services in the Valley on April 17 and the services have remained suspended since then. Only 2G internet services are available on the mobile phones.