Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister and senior right wing BJP leader, Dr Nirmal Singh, on Tuesday said that terming Hizb ul Mujahideen chief, Syed Salahuddin, a “global terrorist” by the United States was a “big development”.
“The announcement to declare him (Salahuddin) a global terrorist has completely exposed Pakistan as a home, safe sanctuary and launching pad of top terrorists including Salahuddin,” Singh said.
“Over the years, Pakistan has been giving shelter to terrorists including Salahuddin, Osama Bin Laden, Hafiz Saeed, Azhar Masood and Dawood Ibrahim,” he said.
Amid Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US, the Donald Trump adiministration declared Salahuddin as a “global terrorist”.
In a notification, the US State Department has said Salahuddin, who hails from Kashmir and is based in Pakistan for the last 28 years, “has committed, or poses a significant risk of committing, acts of terrorism”.
However, the sanctions imposed on United Jihad Council (UJC) chief invited sharp reaction from Pakistan and the conglomerate of militant outfits – UJC.
“The US took the step against the militant group’s 71-year-old head, whose original name is Mohammed Yousuf Shah, as he had vowed to block any peaceful resolution to the Kashmir conflict, threatened to train more Kashmiri suicide bombers, and vowed to turn the Kashmir Valley into a graveyard for Indian forces,” Singh said.
In a secret operation, the United States claimed that its seals succeeded in killing Osama Bin Laden in Abbotabad, Pakistan on May 02, 2011.
“It is a welcome step. This announcement by the US is a big development as the world has now accepted that Pakistan has waged a proxy way by using its terror stooges like Salahuddin, Azhar Masood and Hafiz Saeed against India,” he said.
“Salahuddin is to us, what Osama was to US. He is involved in all types of terror attacks through his Hizbul outfit in Kashmir killing people and security persons for the past 27 years,” he said.
Salahuddin finished his Masters in Political Science at Srinagar University in 1971, where he wrote several poems.
He later jointed Jama’at-e-Islami (JeI) after concluding his education and contested state elections in 1987.
He was arrested from inside the ticket counting hall in Srinagar and eventually released in 1989.
The MUF alleged widespread rigging of polls by the NC-Congress alliance led by Dr Farooq Abdullah.
He formed and joined the Hizbul Mujahideen.
Along with Hizb ul Mujahideen, Salahuddin also leads the United Jihad Council (UJC), which is a conglomerate of many militant outfits operating in Jammu and Kashmir since mid-1990s.
He hailed Burhan Wani as a ‘martyr’, and promised to turn the Kashmir valley “into a graveyard for Indian forces.”
On Monday, the UJC chief issued a week-long calendar on the death anniversary of Burhan whose killing on July 08, 2016 triggered a massive anti-India uprising during which armed forces shot dead over hundred civilians.
