US Hizb censure is a little too late

But it is a small victory for India in the war against terrorism

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hands More in significantly,exposing the duplicitousthe US designationrole played will by strengthen Pakistan’s India’ssecurity establishment in backing the militancy in Kashmir. The resurgence of the Hizb in the past few years has suited Islamabad, which has played up the “Kashmiri face” of the militancy after years of fomenting unrest through the Pakistani fighters in the ranks of the LeT and JeM. The fact remains that Hizb chief Syed Salahuddin, who also heads the United Jihad Council and was designated a global terrorist by the US in June, largely operates from the Pakistani garrison city of Rawalpindi and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. At a time when the West and bodies such as the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force have already taken Pakistan to task for failing to act against terrorists such as LeT founder Hafiz Saeed, the designation of the Hizb and Salahuddin is bound to increase the pressure on Islamabad for giving a free run to terrorists operating from its soil. As the notification from the US state department points out, such terrorism designations “expose and isolate organisations and individuals”.

For India, this is just a small victory in the continuing war against terrorism. Much more needs to be done to address the morass that is Jammu and Kashmir. Perhaps Prime Minister Narendra Modi has shown the way forward, when he spoke in his Independence Day speech about the problem being solved not by abuse or bullets, but by embracing all Kashmiris.