Syed Salahuddin ban in just a big news for Indian TV Channels: US Expert
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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.
South Asia expert Paul Staniland said, however, the designation would have “bigger impact on Indian TV channels than on overall U.S. policy,” and so may not change much.
“It’s a way to play nice with Modi for his visit and to send a signal to Pakistan without doing anything actually very costly or inconvenient,” said Staniland, who teaches political science at the University of Chicago.
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.”
INDIA CHEERS, PAKISTAN ASSAILS
India welcomed the U.S. State Department announcement, delivered just hours before Prime Minister Modi met with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington.
“What the U.S. did is correct,” Indian Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi said in New Delhi. “This declaration by the U.S. may probably help in impacting his movements and funding.”
Pakistani officials said they felt betrayed and alarmed, while Salahuddin’s supporters demonstrated in Pakistani Kashmir, shouting anti-Indian slogans and burning the Indian flag.
Sardar Masood Khan, the president of Pakistan’s portion of Kashmir, denied that Salahuddin or Hizbul Mujahideen had anything to do with terrorism, saying the group was engaged “in a struggle for the freedom of occupied Kashmir.”
The Pakistani foreign ministry called the designation “completely unjustified.”
The United Jihadi Council, the rebel umbrella group chaired by Salahuddin, also decried the U.S. decision.
“Syed Salahuddin is the symbol of the Kashmir Freedom movement,” spokesman Syed Sadaqat Hussain said in a statement.
“The freedom struggle of Kashmir people is a rightful movement,” he said. “We believe that the freedom-loving nations of the world will also reject this step by the Trump administration.”
