Hours before the United States designated Kashmir rebel leader Syed Salahuddin a global terrorist, he appeared in a video calling for strikes in the Himalayan territory in remembrance of another rebel leader whose killing by Indian forces last July triggered months of deadly protests.
The U.S. State Department’s announcement Monday coincided with an official visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Washington. It said Salahuddin “has committed, or poses a significant risk of committing, acts of terrorism.”
But to his vast Kashmiri following, Salahuddin, 71, is seen as a hero and his cause of ousting India from the mostly Muslim region is considered just.
Salahuddin is now based on the Pakistani side of the divided territory, where he leads Kashmir’s largest indigenous rebel group fighting Indian rule across a heavily militarized de-facto border. The group, Hizbul Mujahideen, says the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir should be absorbed by Pakistan, reuniting the two sides as the single territory that existed before India and Pakistan gained independence in 1947.
A SIMMERING DISPUTE
The status of Kashmir has been a key dispute between India and Pakistan since the two split after the end of British colonial rule and each claimed the territory. They each control part of Kashmir and have fought two wars over their rival claims. Initially, the anti-India movement in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir was largely peaceful, but after a series of political blunders, broken promises and a crackdown on dissent, Kashmiris launched a full-blown armed revolt in 1989.
Salahuddin is considered to have been instrumental in getting Kashmir to the point of rebellion.
Then known by his real name, Mohammed Yusuf Shah, Salahuddin and others helped political dissidents unite and contest state assembly elections in Indian-held Kashmir. The resulting Muslim United Front became a formidable force against the pro-India political elite, but still lost an election in 1987 that was widely criticized as rigged.
Salahuddin ran for an assembly seat, and lost, in the main city of Srinagar. He was dragged out of the ballot-counting hall and detained for months without charges, triggering a strong public backlash.
Young activists from the Muslim United Front began crossing over to Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, where they allegedly were armed and trained by the Pakistani military. Pakistan denies giving anything other than political and moral support to the insurgency.
KASHMIR BOILS OVER
By 1989, Kashmir was in the throes of a full-blown rebellion. Many militant groups surfaced, with up to 20,000 rebels staging bloody attacks on the Indian security establishment and pro-India Kashmiri politicians. India responded with a massive militarization of Kashmir’s cities, towns and countryside, saying it was fighting a Pakistan-sponsored proxy war. It unleashed a brutal counterinsurgency campaign, and soldiers were given broad impunity and allowed to shoot suspects on sight or detain them indefinitely.
Salahuddin crossed over to the Pakistani side in 1991, and within a few months returned to the Indian side to lead Hizbul Mujahideen. Five years later he went back to Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, where he led the United Jihad Council, an umbrella group of 13 Kashmiri rebel organizations that is understood to have links to the Pakistani military.
The rebellion raged for about a decade, leaving some 70,000 Kashmiris dead in the fighting and ensuing Indian crackdown. By 2011, the militancy had largely been crushed. Most anti-India sentiment is now expressed through regular strikes and street protests by tens of thousands of civilians. The protests often lead to clashes between rock-throwing youths and rifle-toting soldiers.
On Monday, Salahuddin called for a week of resistance, including two days of strikes, starting July 8, the anniversary of last year’s killing of Burhan Wani, a young, charismatic leader. Wani’s death enraged Kashmiris, who began resisting anti-rebel sweeps in remote villages.