US must track, arrest, hand Salahuddin over to India: Congress

The Congress on 3 July said that as the United States of America (USA) has classified Syed Salahuddin as a 'global terrorist, now it's their responsibility to track him down in Pakistan, arrest him and hand him over to India.

"Salahuddin has been the chief of Hizbul Mujahideen from its inception. He has been orchestrating terror attacks in India. Since, the USA has now classified him as a global terrorist. It's now responsibility of USA to track him down in Pakistan, arrest him and hand it over to India," Congress Manish Tewari told ANI.

Hizbul Mujahideen Chief Syed Salahuddin, who has been branded as a 'global terrorist' by the United States, admitted in a TV interview to having carried out terror attacks on Indian soil.

"Till now our focus was on Indian occupation forces. All the operations that we have done or are underway, we focus only on the installations of these occupational forces," Salahuddin said in an interview with Geo TV.

Asserting that Kashmir was his 'home', the Hizbul chief stated that the Valley was witnessing an uprising since the killing of Burhan Wani.

Further revealing that he has many supporters in India, Salahuddin admitted to purchasing weapons from international markets, adding that he has the capacity to deliver weapons at any place if he is paid for it.

Informing that he carried out many 'operations' in India, Salahuddin stated that the international scenario changed after 9/11.

"If we would have taken our operations out of Kashmir at that time, India would get a chance to label Kashmir-e-Tehreek a terrorist organization. We have support and we can target any place in India, at anytime," he said.

On June 26th, the U.S. Department of State designated Salahuddin, as a 'Specially Designated Global Terrorist'.

"Department of State has designated Mohammad Yusuf Shah, also known as (AKA) Syed Salahuddin, as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) 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 U.S. nationals or the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States. As a consequence of this designation, U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with Salahuddin and all of Salahuddin's property and interests in property subject to United States jurisdiction are blocked," the State Department said in a statement.

Salahuddin is the senior leader of the militant group Hizbul Mujahideen. 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."

Under Salahuddin's tenure as senior Hizbul leader, the terror outfit has claimed responsibility for several attacks, including the April 2014 explosives attack in Jammu and Kashmir, which injured 17 people.

-ANI