Washington: The US Department of State on Monday designated Mohammad Yusuf Shah, also known as Syed Salahuddin, as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT).
Mohammad Yusuf Shah is the senior leader of the militant group Hizbul Mujahideen (HM).Also Read: Seven Things to Know About Hizbul Commander Syed Salahuddin
The move comes just hours before the first meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump at the White House.
The US decision, which was welcomed by India, marks a serious blow to Pakistan where he has been taking refuge for the last 28 years, allegedly with the help of Pakistani authorities.
He is also the head of United Jihad Council, a conglomerate of several terror outfits like LeT and JeM which operate out of Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
"India welcomes this notification. It underlines also quite strongly that both India and the US face threat of terrorism," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Gopal Baglay said here.
"This notification has just come, we will look at the notification and what its specific provisions are," he said.
"The outfits that Syed Salahuddin leads have perpetuated from the territory of Pakistan and PoK. Cross-border terrorism against India including in the state of J-K for several years. In that sense we would welcome this notification.
"It underlines also quiet strongly the fact the both India and the US face threat of terrorism and they are working together to counter this threat, not in one particular area, but globally because terrorism knows no boundaries," he said.
The US decision significantly came on a day Salahuddin issued a video message calling for a week-long agitation to mark the first death anniversary of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani, who was killed by security forces in an encounter on July 8 last year.
Syed Salahuddin has been charged under Section 1(b) of Executive Order (E.O.) 13224, which imposes sanctions on foreign persons who have committed, or pose a significant risk of committing, acts of terrorism that threaten the security of US nationals or the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States.
Designations of terrorist individuals and groups expose and isolate organizations and individuals, and result in denial of access to the US financial system.
Designations can assist or complement the law enforcement actions of other nations, said the executive order.
In September, 2016, Salahuddin 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".
Comments
0 comment