Separatist Aasiya Andrabi, who heads the all-woman group Dukhtaran-e-Millat (DeM), on Wednesday denied the statements made by three arrested Hyderabad youths that they were meeting Andrabi to join the Islamic State (IS). Meanwhile, another separatist Masarat Alam was re-arrested in Jammu.
“I came to know about the story through the media. Even the ATS (Anti-Terrorism Squad) Hyderabad was quoted saying that they [the boys] wanted to meet me. I think the arrested boys know better why they named me. It seems my name has been deliberately dragged in,” said Ms. Andrabi.
The three youths, cousins and in their twenties, were arrested last week at the Nagpur airport by the Maharashtra ATS. They told the police they were on their way to Srinagar to meet Ms. Andrabi, “who would have facilitated their onward journey to join the IS.”
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“I have never ever met them. I have never seen them. One needs to think how I could facilitate their joining the IS,” said Ms. Andrabi.