NEW DELHI, June 27: India’s interior ministry on Thursday banned the radical Kashmiri women’s separatist group Dukhtaran-i-Millat, which espouses a strict adherence to Islamic tradition and has urged Muslims to wage holy war.

An interior ministry spokesman told newsmen that the Islamic separatist group was branded a “terrorist” outfit by the Indian government under a tough new anti-terrorist law called the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA).

“A notice has been issued by the home ministry saying the organization is involved in hardcore terrorist activities and banned under POTA,” said the spokesman.

The spokesman said Dukhtaran-i-Millat’s chief Aasiya Andrabi was wanted by the Indian police for illegally transmitting funds to militant groups in Kashmir.

“Andrabi is wanted in several cases relating to hawala (illegal foreign exchange) funding of terrorist groups in Kashmir and is absconding,” he added.

A college graduate with a degree in biochemistry and bacteriology, Andrabi set up her hardline separatist outfit in 1981.

The group recently carried out a campaign of throwing coloured dye on Muslim women who ignore orthodox dress codes.

Ms Andrabi, 38, is married to a jailed commander, Mohammed Qasim, and has been pressuring him to take more wives given the large number of Kashmiri women who have been widowed by the insurgency.—AFP