SRINAGAR: A Kashmiri separatist arrested four months ago for harassing a romantic couple as part of an anti-vice crusade in the majority-Muslim state has been set free, her organisation said on Sunday. Aasiya Andrabi was charged early September under Indian Kashmir's Public Safety Act and could have been held for up to a year without bail. The legislation was enacted to combat insurgency in the region which has left tens of thousands dead since 1989. "Our leader was released on Saturday," said a statement Sunday from Andrabi's group, Dukhtaran-e-Millat, or Daughters of Faith.
Moderate and hardline factions of the region's main separatist alliance and other Islamic groups had urged her release, saying she was doing a good job fighting obscenity and immorality.