Women separatists in Indian-controlled Kashmir demand release of their leader

Veiled women activists of the Dukhtaran-e-Milat (Daughters of the Faith), a women separatist group, Saturday made a protest march in Srinagar in Indian-controlled Kashmir, demanding release of their arrested chief Asiya Andrabi, Indo-Asian New Service reported.

Andrabi was arrested along with eight of her accomplices from Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir on Sept.7 and booked under the harsh Public Safety Act (PSA).

The protesters also shouted slogans against the alleged spread of obscenity and flesh trade in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

The Dukhtaran-e-Milat is an all-women's separatist group that became active in the region in 1989, and is opposed to New Delhi's rule in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

Recently, it also launched a campaign against what it called "spread of obscenity and vulgarity in Kashmiri society".

The arrest has been widely condemned, as it came on the day the moderate faction of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), a conglomerate of the separatist groups in the Indian-controlled Kashmir, was meeting Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi.

The separatists are demanding the right of self-determination for the people of the Indian-controlled Kashmir.

Source:Xinhua