India attaches property of Kashmiri resistance leader

By Zahid Rafiq

SRINAGAR, Jammu and Kashmir (AA) - Amid an ongoing crackdown against resistance groups in Kashmir, India's National Investigation Agency (NIA) attached the house of incarcerated Kashmiri leader as "proceeds of terror."

A copy of the NIA order was found outside Asiya Andrabi’s house in Srinagar, the capital of Kashmir, saying the property "represents proceeds of terrorism and has been used in furtherance of terrorist activities of proscribed organisation Dukhtaran-e-Millat."

The order forbids any transfer, sale or transaction involving the property, except with prior permission.

Andrabi, head of the all-women organisation Dukhtaran-e-Millat (DeM), is currently being held in Tihar prison in the Indian capital New Delhi.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Andrabi's lawyer said the property dates back to before she entered politics.

"It is unfortunate. The property that has been attached by the NIA is Andrabi’s ancestral property. It is a 40-year-old house," said Shafqat Hussain.

In charges filed last year against against Andrabi and two others, Fehmeeda and Nahida, the NIA said the DeM raised funds by selling gold jewelry donations, which it allegedly used for anti-India activities.

They have been in prison since July last year.

Last March, India’s Enforcement Directorate attached properties of another incarcerated Kashmiri resistance leader, Shabir Ahmad Shah, in Srinagar for his alleged involvement in "terror funding".

Jammu and Kashmir, a Muslim-majority Himalayan region, is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed by both in full. A small sliver of Kashmir is also held by China.

Since they were partitioned in 1947, the two countries have fought three wars -- in 1948, 1965 and 1971 -- two of them over Kashmir.

Also, in Siachen glacier in northern Kashmir, Indian and Pakistani troops have fought intermittently since 1984. A cease-fire came into effect in 2003.

Some Kashmiri groups in Jammu and Kashmir have been fighting against Indian rule for independence, or for unification with neighboring Pakistan.

According to several human rights organizations, thousands of people have reportedly been killed in the conflict in the region since 1989.