Political experts in Kashmir were surprised at the U.S. decision to list Salahuddin as a global terrorist. The Kashmir conflict has mostly been left out of global discussions and treated as a regional dispute, far from threatening Europe, the U.S. or other far-off nations.
The U.S. State Department said Salahuddin 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.”
The timing of the decision was also unexpected, given that militancy has largely died down since the U.S. began pressuring Pakistan to rein in the rebels in 2011. India has failed to win popular support, though, and many in Kashmir still call for “azadi,” or freedom.
“I don’t think this is a principled position,” and instead seems guided by U.S. economic and political interests, said Prof. Noor Ahmed Baba, who teaches political science at the Central University of Kashmir. “This man, per se, is not directed against America or its citizens. His activities have remained confined to Kashmir.”
He warned of the “dangerous” likelihood of antagonizing Pakistan, which “can further push the country closer to the emerging China-Russia alignment.” It could also complicate U.S. efforts to reinforce troop deployments in Afghanistan.
Others questioned why the U.S. would designate someone an alleged terrorist who posed no threat to the West.
“It is significant because the U.S. designates only those as terrorists who harm American interests which Salahuddin doesn’t do. Harms only India,” Kashmiri journalist Ahmed Ali Fayyaz, who has known Salahuddin for decades, said on Twitter.
And in Salahuddin’s home village of Soibugh, residents were stunned that he had grabbed U.S. attention.
“Earlier, India and Pakistan would use Kashmir to further their agendas. But now it has shifted to the global arena, where America is using Kashmir to appease New Delhi in tapping Indian markets,” villager Mohammed Akbar said. “Our misery continues.”