August 17, 2017: The United States has named Pakistan based Kashmiri terrorist outfit Hizbul Mujahideen as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation. The US decision comes nearly two months after adding the group’s Pakistan-based chief Syed Salahuddin to its list of designated global terrorists.
Slapping a series of sanctions on the outfit, the US state department said in a statement that adding such designations expose and isolate terrorist groups and individuals, and assist the law enforcement activities of US agencies and other governments.
It added that the US seeks to deny Hizbul Mujahideen the resources it needs to carry out terrorist attacks. All its properties and interests in properties subject to US jurisdiction are blocked and US persons are generally prohibited from engaging in any transactions with the group.
The move comes against the backdrop of upsurge in the terror activities of the group in Kashmir in recent months.
The US decision marks a severe blow to Pakistan which has been projecting the terrorist group as a voice of Kashmiri people. Pakistan’s powerful Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa and ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif have repeatedly praised Hizbul’s slain commander Burhan Wani who was killed in an encounter in Kashmir in July last year.
Started in 1989, Hizbul is one of the largest and oldest groups operating in Kashmir. Its leader Salahuddin, who is based in Rawalpindi and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, has claimed to have carried out several “operations” in India.
The Hizb joins the Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba on the US list of foreign terrorist organisations designated in 2001. Two other anti-India groups, Indian Mujahideen and al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent are also in the list. (AIR News)
