As revolutionary leaders go, Aasiyeh Andrabi is not what you would expect.
The mother-of-two's slight frame and quiet demeanour make her one of the unlikeliest candidates to be at the helm of Indian Kashmir's first and only women's separatist movement. But her appearance belies a determination that's unwavering.
'I do not believe that Kashmir is Indian, and we will fight, Inshallah [God willing], to get Kashmir free from India,' the 45-year-old says. 'India has illegally occupied Kashmir. We are not Indians. I am Muslim. I don't believe in nationalism. My identity is Muslim. Nationalism changes. Islam does not change.'
She turns tasselled prayer beads carefully through the fingers of her left hand, sitting cross-legged on the floor in her Srinagar home. Her train of thought is disturbed by the sound of her two mobile phones interrupting the ebb and flow of her words.
Once the phone conversations end, she is instantly back to her message and her mission to force social and political change in Indian Kashmir through Islam.
Ms Andrabi founded Dukhtaran-e-Millat (D-e-M), or Daughters of the Faith, in Srinagar in 1981. Funded through donations, the movement established Indian Kashmir's first madrassa school for women and girls, Madrassa Taleemul Koran, in Srinagar a year later.
A quarter of a century on, the group has thousands of female members and runs 75 schools throughout the Kashmir Valley, educating students about Islam and the rights and responsibilities they have as Muslim women.
