The US Department of State on Monday declared Syed Salahuddin, the supreme commander of Hizbul Mujahideen (HuM), a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist”, hours before Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with President Trump.
The US government has — under Section 1[b] of Executive Order [E O] 13224 that “imposes sanctions on foreign persons who have committed, or pose a significant risk of committing, acts of terrorism that threaten the security of US nationals or the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States” — prohibited all Americans from engaging in transactions with Salahuddin while “all of Salahuddin’s properties and interests in properties subject to US jurisdiction are blocked,” according to a statement released by the US Department of State.
Salahuddin is reverentially known as “Pir Sahib” among the ranks of freedom fighters in Indian-occupied Kashmir. HuM is the largest indigenous separatist group fighting against Indian-rule in the Himalayan territory since an armed insurrection broke out in 1989.
Several armed rebel groups are fighting against Indian rule, with tens of thousands of people, most of them civilians, killed in the nearly three decades-old conflict.
‘Move completely unjustified’
The Foreign Office has said “the designation of individuals supporting the Kashmiri right to self-determination as terrorists is completely unjustified.”
According to the statement, the gross and systematic violations of human rights of the Kashmiri people in Indian occupied Kashmir recorded and reported by independent human rights bodies is a reality.
Pakistan, it added, shall continue to extend political, diplomatic and moral support for the just struggle of the Kashmiri people.
Kashmiri leaders denounce move
Kashmiri leaders across the Line of Control (LoC) condemned the US State Department for designating the HuM chief as global terrorist and imposing sanctions on him.
“Salahuddin and his organisation have been fighting the illegal Indian rule in IOK where security forces have been committing crimes against humanity,” said President Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Sardar Masood Khan.
Khan went on to add that the nexus between President Trump and Modi is a threat for global peace, saying history teaches us a lesson every time US deceives Pakistan.
Meanwhile, Opposition leader in AJK Assembly Chaudhry Muhammad Yaseen said Washington should stand with the oppressed people of Kashmir and not with the oppressor. India, he added, has killed more than one hundred thousand innocent people in IOK since 1989.
Other political leaders in AJK also condemned the move and termed it a failure of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s foreign policy.
