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| Hardliners in Kashmir Valley play villain on Valentines Day | | | SRINAGAR , Feb 14
Hard line separatist leader, Aasiya Inbrabi, today led a tirade against Valentine's Day celebrations in Srinagar as the group chased couples in hotels and burnt valentine day's cards and gifts in city center Lal Chowk. Hough the move upset boys and girls out to celebrate this day as a romantic date, it has also invited appreciation from certain sections of society especially the older group.
Accompanied by activists of Forum Against Social Evils (FASE), Aasiya, who is the Chairman of the radical women's group, Dukhtaran-e-Millat, and an executive member of FASE made her way into several restaurants where she delivered lectures to couples sitting in these places.
"There is no place for Valentine's Day celebrations in an Islamic society like ours and the Kashmiri culture. Such events lead to immorality in the society," Aasiya said adding that festivals like Valentine's Day are a part of the cultural invasion by the west.
Particularly addressing the girls, Aasiya impressed upon them to follow the teachings of Islam and avoid celebrating Valentines Day. Aasiya counseled the girls to stop mixing with boys.
Though only a few couples were seen in restaurants, the move upset these love birds as some felt the lecturing an intrusion into their private lives. "The day is not meant for romance only, it is a celebration among friends," said a teenage girl.
Aasiya, on her part said that Valentine's day was a new phenomenon in Kashmir and had to be curbed because of its ill effects on "our society". The Dukhtaran chief also termed reports be certain television channels that Valentine's Day was being celebrated with in Kashmir with enthusiasm as "complete lies" and said that the reports were exaggerated to please the Indian audience.
Later Aasiya, along with FASE activists burned Valentine's Day greeting cards and gift items being sold at some stores in Lal Chowk. FASE had earlier urged parents not to allow their children to indulge in celebrations like Valentine's Day.
Though Aasiya might have upset the teenage love birds, elders were all praise for Aasiya who felt that Valentine's day was a "foreign phenomenon."
"Her effort is appreciable given the present circumstances. She has been singly repelling vulgarity and immorality," said one Mohammed Yousuf Baba of Jawahar Nagar, Srinagar. "I think we need to support her," he added.
This is not for the first time that Aasiya has started a campaign against "social evils". Earlier, Aasiya has been targeting restaurants with closed cabins for couples besides internet cafés where Aasiya claims that couples sit in closed-door cabins and indulge in immoral activities in the garb of accessing internet.
A case stands registered against Aasiya in a Srinagar police station for intruding business and damaging property after she forced entry into an internet café in downtown Srinagar last month.
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