Woman separatist leader held in Srinagar

Chief of Kashmiri separatist women group Dukhtaran-e-Milat (Daughters of Faith), Asiya Andrabi, was arrested during anti-Valentine`s Day protest.

Srinagar: Chief of Kashmiri separatist women group Dukhtaran-e-Milat (Daughters of Faith), Asiya Andrabi, was arrested on Friday during anti-Valentine`s Day protest here.

Andrabi was taken into preventive custody along with some other women activists during a protest at the fashionable Residency Road in Srinagar. The activists of the separatist women`s group were protesting against Valentine`s Day celebrations. Andrabi told reporters: "Ours is a Muslim society and Islam does not permit vulgarities like Valentine`s Day celebrations or exchange of greetings between unmarried boys and girls on any occasion." The group has been responsible in the past for closure of many beauty parlours in the city. Its activists have also been engaged in campaigns asking local women to wear the burqa in line with the Islamist traditions. Asiya and her group`s activists have been held in a local women police station.