The
branding of Syed Salahuddin as global terrorist : Symbolic yet significant
Posted
on 29/06/2017 by Dailyexcelsior
Lt Gen Syed Ata Hasnain
Syed Salahuddin is not a figure unknown outside J&K in the rest of India but as it happens with most leaders of terrorist groups, knowledge about them always remains peripheral. So who exactly is the bearded Rasputin looking and cap wearing character who has just gained further notoriety by being designated a global terrorist by the US? 71 year old Salahuddin, a Jamati to boot (member of the Jamat e Islami Kashmir – JeI), contested the J&K assembly elections of 1987 on the ticket of Muslim United Front and lost due to alleged serious rigging in the Amirakadal constituency, forcing him to become a renegade. He joined the HM in 1989 and later became its supremo. HM became the militant face of the JeI(K) and Salahuddin virtually SAS Geelani’s pointsman. He moved across the LoC in 1990 and later was appointed the Chairman of the United Jihad Council (UJC) in 1994, a Muzaffarabad based conglomerate of initially 13 terrorist organizations focused on attempting to force the Indian security forces to evacuate J&K.
Syed Salahuddin has been one of the chief
recipients of Pakistani largesse and support which has helped him usurp the
position of the main rabble rouser and anti-India voice from among those
Kashmiris who fled to and live in Pakistan. He had problems with various HM
militant commanders from time to time in the last 25 years or so chief among
them being Abdul Majeed Dar, who in Sep 2000 had a change of heart and wished
to seek peace with India. Initially this was supported by Salahuddin but under
Pakistani pressure he went back on his support. Dar was later assassinated in
2003 by unknown assailants but the hand of Salahuddin was known to have been
involved. Interestingly Salahuddin as one of the chief surrogates of Pakistan’s
ISI he has closely toed its line and received its guidance and extensive funding
for terror activities in J&K; now largely restricted to the Valley
sector alone. However, in 2008 with the introduction of informal Trans LoC
trade different means of laundering money and funding Separatist organizations
through the system of under invoicing were adopted. Now with the National
Investigation Agency (NIA) actively involved in investigating the financial
conduits of support to the Hurriyat and the militant groups these routes seemed
destined for short life hereafter.
While the HM’s activities continue all over
the Valley it is South and Central Kashmir where it is the dominant militant
group. The changing nature of militancy from 2008 onwards had an effect on
Salahuddin’s functioning style and level of control. Salahuddin initially took
care to isolate the HM from the Pakistani LeT but relented over time. From 2014
his shroud of being a non-radical appeared to lift substantially as part of a
strategy. Attempting to link the separatist violence in the Indian
state with pan-Islamic jihad in Syria and Iraq, Salahuddin declared that help
from al-Qaeda, Taliban or any other like-minded group or country would be
welcome. The attempt to give energy to the apparently flagging movement in 2014
through these utterances was due to the feelers he got from 2011 to 2014 of his
waning control over HM. A new generation of restive Kashmiri youth was
emerging. The Proxy War Generation born in or around 1989 is known to have
grown under the shadow of the inevitable Indian hard power that was then
needed. It started showing the first signs of its impatience with the manner in
which Salahuddin ran the HM. It was the beginning of the deification of Burhan
Wani and the introduction of technology into the militancy, the nature of which
changed quite dramatically. From 2012 onwards North Kashmir, already suffering
from the absence of Pakistani terrorist leaders after the killing of Abdullah
Uni, progressively abdicated dominance of the separatist movement to South
Kashmir. Burhan Wani’s social media driven violent movement made him the poster
boy of the HM threatening Salahuddin’s hold and position. Burhan’s killing on 8
Jul 2016 became the trigger for the severe turbulence in South Kashmir and the
emergence of a slew of leaders who tried to inherit his mantel. His successor
Sabzar Bhat was recently killed in an encounter.
The recent interesting aspects related to
Salahuddin’s position in HM and the nature of emerging threats will assist in
ascertaining the extent of effect of the US action. Just recently Salahuddin
condemned Zakir Musa and ejected him from the HM after the young militant
leader threatened the beheading of the Hurriyat leaders if they did not link
the Kashmiri struggle with the struggle for the Caliphate. Salahuddin’s need
for the Hurriyat is evident from this action although he may not have minded
following Musa’s ideological extremism. It would have gained greater support
from the Pakistani establishment and make him quite indispensable. What is
however, becoming quite evident is that the unity of the resistance moment in
Kashmir is now progressively getting dented. Pakistan’s recent hard push to
induct Pakistani terrorists across multiple points on the LoC is demonstrative
of the fact it finds its control waning over the new generation Kashmiri
terrorists.
Sensing some dilution in Pakistan’s support
Salahuddin had in an interview in June 2012 claimed that Pakistan had been
backing the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen in its fight in Kashmir. He went on threaten
that if this was withdrawn he would fight Pakistan internally. 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. It was this
statement which the US State Department pounced upon.
The timing by the US to declare Salahuddin a
global terrorist was most apt; a few hours before the meeting between Mr Modi
and President Trump. It brought a positive note to the expectations which were
getting apprehensive by the moment. In the event the summit actually achieved
much more than expected.
Although unconnected, it does look as if the
Iranian Supreme Leader’s uncalled for Eid message urging Islamic nations to
support the struggle of the Kashmiris against the Indian Army, could have
instigated the US action. It is doubtful that any response could be as quick as
this but the US action has actually been well thought through. It sends a
message to the UN Security Council, especially China, about the designation of another
notorious leader, Pakistan JeM’s Masood Azhar, which is hanging fire due to
China’s intransigence. The US fully realizes its compulsions in not pressing
home on Pakistan the implications of having similarly declared Jamat ud Dawa’s
Hafiz Sayeed. A bounty of 10 million USD on his head has made scant difference
in Pakistan’s handling of the master terrorist except once in a while
incarceration to send messages of cooperation to the international community;
post Trump inauguration this is exactly what happened when Sayeed was detained.
There was no compulsion on the part of the US
to have acted as such in declaring Salahuddin a global terrorist. It realizes
that Pakistan continues to remain strategically significant as far the future
of Afghanistan is concerned. However, it also probably perceived that
Pakistan’s strategic confidence and cockiness was increasing with the assured
backing of China. A balance had to be drawn between pushing Pakistan into the
China Russia fold and appeasing it on Afghanistan. A window was also being
sought to send India positive signals without going overboard and without
having to act much upon a decision. To that extent this action achieved
everything. Most of all it set the tone for the Modi Trump Summit in a most
appropriate way.
To expect anything further from the
declaration and to attempt to force the US to go beyond may be naïve. President
Trump has in one stroke further demonstrated his intent to energize the global
war on terror and target all those organizations and entities which have the
potential to be threats. The HM in its current avatar bears no threat to the US
but its emerging potential as a radically oriented violent extremist group
which is trying to adopt the model of other international terror groups, demands
pre-emptive action. That it targets a US strategic partner is good reason too
to declare its leader a global terrorist.
(Adapted from the original article by the
author published in Swarajya.com)
The author is former GOC of Srinagar based 15 Corps)
feedbackexcelsior@gmail.com
The author is former GOC of Srinagar based 15 Corps)
feedbackexcelsior@gmail.com
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