Cops investigate Kashmiri separatist leader Ansiya Andrabi's role in recruiting for Islamic State

The three Hyderabad-based cousins, arrested for allegedly planning to join terror groups, aspired to meet Kashmiri separatist leader Asiya Andrabi. They were planning to use the name of their late uncle and former chief of Students Islamic Movement of India (Simi) Syed Salahuddin, police told PTI on Tuesday. Andrabi, who is a leader of the separatist Kashmiri women’s group Dukhtaran-e-Millat, was booked in August 2015 for hoisting Pakistan’s flag on the neighbouring country’s Independence Day in Kashmir. “Mohd Abdulla Basith, Maaz Hasan Farooq and Syed Omer Farooq Hussaini had no direct connection with Andrabi, nor did she know them. After reaching Srinagar they wanted to meet her using their uncle’s name and seek her help to cross the border and reach Jalalabad in Afghanistan,” a senior officer of the special investigation team of Hyderabad police said. “From Srinagar they wanted to explore options for joining some terror organisation to wage jihad. They did not have any well-prepared plan and wanted to meet Andrabi or leaders of Hizbul Mujahideen,” he told PTI. [caption id=“attachment_2565416” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Kashmiri separatist leader Ansiya Andrabi. Image courtesy: IBNLive[/caption] The Jammu and Kashmir government and police will verify claims with regard to the alleged plan for meeting Andrabi by three youths, Deputy Chief Minister Dr Nirmal Singh told media on Wednesday. “Definitely, the government and police will verify these facts. There is every apprehension of such a thing. If it is proved, then the government will act as per law,” Singh told reporters in Jammu. Earlier this week, Andrabi made it to headlines when opposed the proposed New Year celebrations to be held at tourist resort of Gulmarg and alleged that these programmes are being organised under an agenda devised by the RSS to thrust upon Kashmir the shameless and lewd culture of India. “This programme is not a Parvaaz of Kashmir, but the Parvaaz of a vulture which is always destined towards filth. In a clear attempt to counter the Islamic ideology of Kashmiris, the real culture of Kashmir is related to Islam and it has no place to celebrate events like New Year. These events can be important for the Brahman culture but they don’t have any connection with Islam,”  ANI quoted Andrabi as saying. Andrabi described the night-long programme being organized by some “unknown group - Kashmiriyat” on December 31 at Gulmarg as “cultural onslaught”. The trio, all between 20-22 years, were picked up from Nagpur airport last week and arrested by Hyderabad police on 27 December. The SIT on Wednesday moved the local court seeking their custody for another ten days. During the interrogation they confessed to hold jihadi ideology and said they were trying to go to Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Palestine via Kashmir to join jihadi forces of Islamic State to wage war against India and elsewhere, according to the officer. “In the past few weeks, the accused read a great deal of Islamic State propaganda online, besides watching a documentary on Kashmir on YouTube, and also read a newspaper article on rise of militancy in Kashmir,” the officer said. The three have been booked under IPC section 121 (waging war against the government) and relevant sections of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. With inputs from PTI