Muzaffarabad A top Kashmiri militant commander on Saturday denounced his designation as a terrorist by the United States, vowing to continue his armed fight against Indian rule in the Indian administered part of Kashmir.
Syed Salahuddin called the decision by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration “idiotic”, saying it was a gift to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was visiting Washington on Monday, the day Salahuddin was declared a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.
“They cannot quote a single incident to prove that we are terrorists,” Salahuddin told a news conference in Muzaffarabad, the capital of the Pakistani portion of Kashmir, where he has been based for some 25 years as leader of the Hizbul Mujahideen, the largest of the anti-Indian Kashmiri militant groups.
“This idiocy can neither weaken our courage, nor stop the freedom struggle and the target-oriented actions of freedom fighters,” he added, saying his fighters’ attacks were on legitimate military targets as opposed to civilians.
Salahuddin said his designation as “global terrorist” had no legal justification.
“Donald Trump’s decision will be thrown out if anyone challenges it in American courts,” he said. “No other Western nation has endorsed what this crazy Donald Trump has done,” he added.
Gun-wielding Hizbul Mujahideen members wearing fatigues escorted his vehicle to the news conference venue.
A blow to Pakistan
After the press conference, Salahuddin led a rally of his supporters in Muzaffarabad and praised Islamabad for its continued Kashmir support.
For Pakistan, the US move to designate Salahuddin as “terrorist” was a huge diplomatic blow as Islamabad believes Hizbul Mujahideen and Salahuddin are fighting for Kashmir’s “freedom” from an Indian “occupation.” Pakistan declared Burhan Wani, a Hizbul Mujahideen leader killed by Indian security forces in Kashmir last July, a “martyr.”
Pakistan claims that its support to Kashmiri separatist groups is only political, but New Delhi claims Islamabad is training militants and providing arms to them.
“The designation of individuals supporting the Kashmiri right to self-determination as terrorists is completely unjustified,” Pakistan’s Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said in a statement following the State Department’s decision.
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Talat Bhat, a Sweden-based Kashmiri documentary filmmaker and trade union activist, does not expect Islamabad to change its Kashmir policy following the Trump administration’s decision to declare Salahuddin a “terrorist.”
“It is not a blow to Pakistan. I fear that nothing will change on the ground, although PM Modi and Indian media will portray it as ‘success,'” Bhat was quoted as saying.
Pakistan denies giving material help to Kashmiri separatists but reiterated earlier this week that it would continue to provide diplomatic and moral support to the Kashmiri struggle for self-determination.
India blames Pakistan for stoking the 28-year-old revolt in Muslim-majority Kashmir and has stepped up efforts to put pressure on Pakistan under Modi.
An independent Kashmir
In his Saturday speech, Salahuddin also called on the United Nations to implement its resolutions on Kashmir and allow the Kashmiri people to vote on independence or a merger with Pakistan. Salahuddin’s group seeks Kashmir’s annexation with Pakistan.
But experts say the 1948 UN resolution on the Kashmir plebiscite is not longer relevant as it mandated Pakistan to demilitarize its part of Kashmir, a condition Islamabad never fulfilled.
Some analysts also say that had Pakistan allowed an indigenous movement to take root in Kashmir, the Kashmir dispute would have more international resonance today. Indian PM Modi, they say, can now easily conceal human rights violations in Kashmir and intensify crackdowns on protesters in the name of fighting terrorism.
“We demand a solution of the Kashmir conflict based on freely expressed wishes of the people. It is high time India and Pakistan announce the timetable for withdrawal of their forces from the portions they control and hold an internationally-supervised referendum,” Deutsche Welle quoted Toqeer Gilani of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front as saying.
In Monday’s announcement, the U.S. State Department said that in September 2016 Salahuddin had threatened to train more Kashmiri suicide bombers and vowed to turn the Kashmir valley “into a graveyard for Indian forces”.
As a consequence of the designation, U.S. individuals are banned from engaging in financial transactions with Salahuddin and all his property in the United States is blocked.
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