Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi said on Tuesday that Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin was a “coward” who had to “run away” to Pakistan. Mr. Mehrishi made the comment while welcoming the U.S. decision to declare Syed Salahuddin a global terrorist. He said that it would help choke his movements and financing.
Another Home Ministry official said the decision would isolate Pakistan, which had been claiming that the “freedom movement in Kashmir is indigenous”.
“What the U.S. did is correct. He [Salahuddin] is a terrorist and he has now been declared so. This declaration by the U.S. may probably help in impacting his movements and funding,” said Mr. Mehrishi on the sidelines of an ITBP event. The State department categorised Salahuddin a specially designated global terrorist on Monday, hours before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with President Donald Trump.
Unjustified move: Pak.
Pakistan on Tuesday criticised the US announcement to designate Syed Salahuddin as a terrorist and called the U.S. move unjustified.
In a statement, Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said the 70-year-old indigenous struggle of Kashmiris remained legitimate.
"The designation of individuals supporting the Kashmiri right to self-determination as terrorists was completely unjustified,” he said. A senior Pakistani Minister Chaudhry Nisar reacted sharply to designation of Salahuddin as terrorist.
(With Mubashir Zaidi)
