Summary of this article
A Delhi court has sentenced Dukhtaran-e-Millat chief Asiya Andrabi to life imprisonment under UAPA.
Andrabi advocated strict adherence to Islamic laws in Kashmir and enforced the closure of cinemas, and also urged women to go out in veils.
Her arrest came as part of the crackdown launched by the Centre against separatist leaders during the PDP-BJP rule in Kashmir and subsequently after the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019
If Kashmir’s initial years of militancy were all about creating an Islamic rule, Asiya Andrabi was among the first few separatist leaders who advocated that people observe Shariah and admonished women from stepping out of their houses without a veil or to freely mingle with boys in public places.
As the founder and chairperson of Dukhtaran-e-Millat (DeM), which was formed in the initial days of separatism in Kashmir in 1987, Aasiya Andrabi routinely issued threats to women asking them to follow Islamic laws of wearing the veil while going out of their houses and has been accused of mobilizing girls to fan secessionism in Kashmir.
Andrabi, who has been sentenced to life by a Delhi Court on March 24, faces multiple cases, including promoting separatist activities in Kashmir. She was convicted in an Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) case. The court also ordered that her two associates, Sofi Fehmeeda and Nahida Nasreen, will serve the prison term of 30 years.
The 63-year-old separatist leader has been accused by the NIA of hatching a “conspiracy to wage war against the government,” and she and her associates were not merely seen to be the “principal actors behind the plot” using Dukhtaran-e-Millat as a platform to push for the secession of Jammu and Kashmir from the rest of the country.
As head of Dukhtaran-e-Millat, which loosely translates into daughters of the nation, Andrabi had urged girls to step out of their houses only in veils. Her cadre would raid restaurants on Valentine’s Day to prevent youngsters from celebrating it. She was also instrumental in shutting down cinemas in Kashmir, most of which have not been opened as of now in Srinagar.
Her ideology mirrored that of some militant organisations. Kashmir’s separatist politics also remained divided on whether to pursue the dialogue with the Central government or not. A faction of the Hurriyat Conference lead by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq rallied for dialogue with New Delhi to resolve the Kashmir issue, while that of Syed Ali Shah Geelani often opposed the negotiations.
Dr Ghulam Mohammad Hubbi, a former member of the Hurriyat Conference led by Geelani, said that Andrabi was part of the Majlisi Shura of the Hurriyat faction for a long time before she was arrested. “Majlisi Shura was a key decision-making body of the Hurriyat, and she remained part of it for a long time,” he said.
Separatist leader and Chairman of Mahaz-e-Azadi, Azam Inquilabli, said that Asiya favored the accession of Kashmir to Pakistan. “Her organisation was an important women’s outfit in Kashmir’s separatist politics. Kashmir doesn’t have any history of women militants, but Asiya was ideologically inclined to Kashmir becoming part of Pakistan.”
A former separatist leader in Kashmir said that Andrabi’s stance was more in line with that of Geelani, “If there were talks, people like Asiya ji would oppose them,” he said, wishing not to be named.
Earlier, after the assassination of Hurriyat leader, Abdul Ghani Lone, by militants for advocating dialogue with the Central government, the conglomerate of the separatist organisations was split into the factions led by Geelani and Mirwaiz.
The outfits including the one led by Andrabi, as well as those that were even part of the Mirwaiz-led Hurriyat, now remain banned after the revocation of Article 370. Earlier, Mirwaiz removed the title of Hurriyat Chairman from his X handle, while some family members of separatist leaders also joined the electoral fray in 2024.
During the PDP-Congress rule, which was led by Mufti Mohammad Sayeed as Chief Minister, the government had advocated more space for separatist leaders rather than keeping them in the prisons. Before the revocation of Article 370, Asiya was vocal in support of Pakistan. Her husband, Qasim Faktoo, is already serving a life sentence for his role in the killing of a member from minority community. Earlier, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chairman, Yaseen Malik, was also sentenced to life for his involvement in anti-India activities in Kashmir.
A special court of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) awarded the sentence in the 2018 Kashmir secession conspiracy case. “DeM is an all-women outfit with the declared objective of achieving secession of Kashmir from India. The accused, all hailing from Kashmir, were earlier, in January 2026, convicted by the trial court at Karkardooma, Delhi, under sections 18, 38 and 39 of the UA(P) Act and sections 153A, 153B, 120B, 121A and 505 IPC. The Court had found the three accused guilty of actively operating DeM to promote the separation of Jammu and Kashmir from the Union of India,” a statement issued by the NIA said.
Asiya and her two other accomplices were arrested in July 2018 by the NIA.
Nahida Nasreen, general secretary of DeM, and Sofi Fehmeeda, the outfit’s Press Secretary, have each been convicted and sentenced concurrently under different provisions of IPC and UA(P) Act.
While Sofi Fehmeeda has eight other cases registered against her, Nahida Nasreen has four. “All three had been chargesheeted by the NIA in November 2018 on the basis of extensive examination of various incriminating materials, including social media chats, videos and media interviews of the accused,” added the NIA statement.