Barely two hours before PM Narendra Modi arrived in the White House to meet President Donald Trump on June 26, the State Department issued a notification declaring Mohammad Yusuf Shah alias Syed Salahuddin, the head of Hizbul Mujahideen (HM), as an international terrorist. HM has, since its inception in 1991, almost exclusively comprised armed Kashmiri militants. It has maintained a close ideological affiliation with Pakistan’s ISI-backed fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami party. As the Muzaffarabad-based HM was soon found to lack the ‘attributes’ of other ISI-backed Pakistani jihadis, it was absorbed into the ISI-sponsored United Jihad Council, whose prominent constituents included groups such as Laskhar-e-Taiba, Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and Jaish-e-Mohammed. Salahuddin and Hizb have been symbolically useful in presenting a Kashmiri face to ISI’s jihad in Kashmir.
The State Department statement noted that after Burhan Wani was killed, Salahuddin had vowed to block any peaceful settlement in Kashmir. His aim was clearly to incite Kashmiri youth to violence. Providing him haven will only further expose the ISI to the charge that it is fomenting cross-border terrorism. The so-called ‘freedom struggle’ in Kashmir now stands exposed as nothing more than an armed insurrection, largely executed by Pakistani jihadis, backed by a handful of Kashmiri youths, who are armed, trained and motivated by ISI. There is now ample evidence that those inciting the stone-pelters are paid from money transferred by handlers in Pakistan and PoK. It is quite evident that sections of Kashmiri youth who have joined the HM will need to be dealt with firmly even as recognised and mainstream parties such as the PDP and National Conference as well as civil society organisations need to be persuaded to reach out to misguided people in Kashmir and explain the futility of recourse to violence. The effort should be to convince people that violence will bring neither international support nor sympathy.
It is also time to discard the notion that reaching out to the separatist Hurriyat leadership, which continues to benefit personally and collectively from both Indian and Pakistani patronage, can produce any tangible results in their ending support for terrorism. Much is spoken about Mirwaiz Umar Farooq being a ‘moderate’. This has, however, not stopped him from inciting violence and stone-pelting during Friday prayers he leads. Frankly, Mirwaiz is so frightened of HM, which killed his father, that he will do their bidding whenever required. Aging Syed Ali Shah Geelani has links with Jamaat-e-Islami. Surely, the Intelligence Establishment, NIA and Enforcement Directorate have enough evidence to charge all these worthies with sedition, incitement to violence and money-laundering. Detention in places far from the cool climes of Kashmir can have a very sobering impact on people used to living with high security cover and substantial financial resources.
Prior to Modi’s US visit, there were reports that Washington-based Kashmir American Council (KAC), headed by Ghulam Nabi Fai, an Indian Kashmiri, was mobilising people to demonstrate near White House. KAC was funded by ISI to highlight the ‘cause’ of Kashmiris, by lobbying with the US legislators and organising ‘conferences’ to which ‘eminent’ Indians and Pakistanis were invited. Fai was charged with receiving $7.5 million from ISI and sentenced to two years imprisonment. ISI has similarly set up a ‘Kashmir Council’ in Brussels to lobby with the members of the European Parliament. Time has come for India to advise the EU to act against this ‘council’ in a manner similar to the action against the KAC.
G Parthasarathy
Former diplomat
dadpartha@gmail.com