The Kashmir Files – a movie directed by the national-award-winning director Vivek Agnihotri which depicts a brutally honest account of the Kashmiri Pandit genocide, has turned out to be a national sensation with people flocking to theatres to witness the story that has never been told before.
The audience, most of whom are unaware of the atrocities committed against the innocent Hindus of Kashmir, are coming out of the theatres with a deep sense of shock and disbelief on how someone could carry out atrocities against fellow humans, neighbours and friends.
One of the significant impacts of the movie – The Kashmir Files is that Indians are now discovering the uncomfortable truths that were hidden from them by the country’s ‘liberal-secular’ establishment. More people are unearthing details of the terror that was unleashed upon the innocent Hindus and discovering the truth of the radical Islamic terrorists operating in the valley for decades.
One such name is Asiya Andrabi, one of the prominent names among the secessionist anti-India forces that had been active in the Kashmir valley for decades.
Asiya Andrabi, the chief of banned secessionist organisation Dukhtaran-e-Millat, is a pro-Pakistan separatist who has been dreaming for years now to free Kashmir from India. Dukhtaran-e-Millat is Kashmir’s biggest network of ‘women jihadis’, as claimed by Andrabi herself.
According to reports, in the early 1980s, Asiya was associated with running a madrasa for women – “Talimul Quran”, a precursor to Dukhtaran-e-Millat, where she invited women to read, understand and practice their faith. She is considered to be the one who radicalised the Muslim women in the valley and mobilised them against India.
Asiya Andrabi – a Pakistan-sponsored secessionist involved in stoking violence in valley
Asiya Andrabi is alleged to be the backbone behind the stone-pelting apparatus in Kashmir. She had supported Pakistani separatist Masarat Alam in the series of stone-pelting rallies across Kashmir by using her village network of Dukhtaran-e-Millat operatives. She has several cases against her for instigating terror in the valley.
Andrabi, known for her hateful anti-India activities, is also a member of the All-Party Hurriyat Conference and has been arrested on several occasions for her involvement in separatist movements. During the peak of ‘Jihadi’ terrorism in the valley in the 1990s, she was arrested for her anti-national activities was later released in 1994. Following her release, she went underground until 2004.
She was again arrested in 2010 for waging war against India and for inciting violence against the Kashmiri Hindus. However, she was released later, only to be picked up again in 2015 in connection with other terror-related cases. Asiya Andrabi was also sent to NIA custody in 2018 for allegedly “waging war against India” and other unlawful activities.
The NIA had revealed that Asiya Andrabi had received funds from abroad to stoke terror in the valley, however, she utilised them for personal gains, including the funding of educational expenses of her son in Malaysia from 2011 onwards. In 2020, Asiya Andrabi and her two associates were charged for allegedly waging war against India, sedition and conspiracy to commit acts of terror in the country.
During the investigation, Asiya Andrabi had revealed that she came in close contact with Lashkar-e-Taiba kingpin Hafeez Saaed through a serving Pakistan Army officer. It is important to note that Andrabi’s nephew is a captain rank officer in the Pakistan Army. She also has close relatives having links with Pakistan Army and its intelligence agency ISI.
Andrabi is also believed to have relatives and fundraisers in the middle east, who funds her organisation regularly to carry out subversive activities against India. As per NIA, Andrabi has direct links with that Saeed, who funds her for instigating terror in the valley. The money was used to mobilise stone-pelters and supporters of Hurriyat who organised violent protests against the government in Srinagar and other parts of the valley.
Asiya’s husband, Ashiq Hussain Faktoo, a founding member of terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen, is currently serving a life term in Srinagar Jail. In 2003, Faktoo was sentenced for the murder of a noted human rights activist and a Kashmiri Pandit Hriday Nath Wanchoo in 1992.
Hoisted Pakistan flag, sang national anthem in Kashmir
In addition to instigating terror in the valley, Asiya Andrabi’s anti-national activities include hoisting the Pakistani flag and singing Pakistan’s national anthem at an event in Srinagar.
Defending her action of hoisting the Pakistani flag, the pro-Pakistan separatist had claimed that there was nothing wrong in hoisting the Pakistani flag and singing the national anthem of Pakistan.
“It is not a new thing in Kashmir. Whenever people get a chance to come on the roads, the people of Kashmir will raise slogans against the illegal occupation of Kashmir by India and in favour of Pakistan,” she had noted in an interview in 2015.
She had in the past had claimed that all Muslims in the Indian subcontinent were Pakistanis by default. She has been rooting for Kashmir to become part of Pakistan and has always proclaimed the same.
In 2015, the burqa-clad Asiya Andrabi was linked with the Islamic terrorist group ISIS as three youths arrested by Hyderabad Police on suspicion of joining the Islamic State (ISIS) had made shocking disclosures saying that they had sought help from Asiya Andrabi. The arrested radicalised Muslim youth had confessed that they were planning to move towards the caliphate of Iraq and Syria, through Afghanistan, Pakistan via Kashmir, and had claimed that they were in touch with Andrabi.
In 2018, she was again found celebrating Pakistani National Day and giving provocative statements in Kashmir.
She can be heard saying, “We are Pakistanis, Pakistan is ours” in the video and instigating young women while saying they would stomp over all kinds of nationalism. Further, media reports have suggested she is regularly in touch with terrorists of Lashkar-e-Taiba.
In 2015, Andrabi had threatened to slaughter cow at Lal Chowk in Kashmir to protest against the beef ban.
Known for instigating local Muslim youth to pick up arms against the Indian state, Andrabi was also quoted as saying that people are either Muslims or Kafirs, and a Muslim country is Pakistan which was founded based on Islam and not based on nationality.
Interestingly, her son is studying in Malaysia on an Indian passport and not a Pakistani one despite their hearts bleeding for Pakistan. Interestingly, pro-Pakistan separatist leader Asiya Andrabi had also rejected her son’s love affair as the girl in question belonged to a “lower caste”.
The younger son of the Dukhtaran-e-Milat chief reportedly had an affair with a girl from Srinagar. He was pretty adamant about marrying her. However, as the girl’s father is a tailor, Andrabi is unhappy with the match.
