Hindustan Times (Delhi)

US designates Hizb global terror group

- Yashwant Raj letters@hindustant­imes.com

PRESSURE ON PAK Fulfils longstandi­ng Indian demand

The United States on Wednesday named Pakistanba­sed Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) as a Foreign Terrorist Organisati­on and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist group, a little more than 50 days after adding its chief Syed Salahuddin to its list of designated global terrorists.

“Today’s action notifies the US public and the internatio­nal community that HM is a terrorist organisati­on,” the US state department said in a statement, adding such designatio­ns expose and isolate terrorist groups and individual­s, and “assist the law enforcemen­t activities of US agencies and other government­s”.

This designatio­n will be welcomed by authoritie­s in India. The Hizb is one of the two most active Pakistan-based terrorist groups operating in Jammu and Kashmir, and claimed responsibi­lity for several attacks, including

New Delhi forwarded documents collected from security agencies and Kashmir Police on activities of Hizbul. These proofs were used appropriat­ely (by the US).

the April 2014 explosives attack in Kashmir that injured 17 people.

The US had named the group’s 71-year-old leader Salahuddin alias Mohammad Yusuf Shah as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist on June 26, just hours before Prime Minister Narendra Modi met President Donald Trump at the White House.

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 ?? AFP ?? A file photo of Syed Salahuddin (C), leader of Hizbul Mujahideen, at a rally in July in Muzaffarab­ad.
AFP A file photo of Syed Salahuddin (C), leader of Hizbul Mujahideen, at a rally in July in Muzaffarab­ad.

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