Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, July 3: India today sent out a very tough message to Pakistan to ensure that terrorists don’t get space in their country as United Jehad Council (UJC) chairman and Hizbul Mujahideen supremo Syed Salahuddin openly confessed in a television interview that he had masterminded terror attacks not only in Kashmir but other parts of India from Pakistan’s soil.
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An official statement issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs after Pakistan’s news channel telecast Salahuddin’s interview, who had recently been declared as global terrorist by the United States, said the UJC chief’s open confession of involvement in terrorism has justified the designation of global terrorist given to him.
“The global terrorist designation given by Donald Trump administration has been justified by own assertion of Salahuddin in the interview,” the statement said.
It added that Salahuddin’s interview has exposed what India knew all along that Pakistan has been a breeding ground for the terrorists.
It strongly condemned Salahuddin’s utterances against India, and said his designation as a global terrorist by the United States was “well deserved”.
“The Government had been describing Salahuddin as a terrorist all along, and his own remarks had confirmed that,” the statement said.
The statement said Salahuddin was also “instrumental” in providing funds to terrorists and separatists and giving other kinds of assistance to the militants.
Meanwhile, strongly hitting out at Pakistan, India today asserted that the brazen admission by Hizbul terrorist Syed Salahuddin of perpetrating terror attacks on India and his confession of assistance from Pakistan was a proof of Islamabad’s policy of cross-border terrorism.
The confession also affirms the complicity of Pakistan’s state structure in using terrorist proxies as a matter of policy against the neighbours, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Gopal Baglay said in response to a query regarding the interview by global terrorist Salahuddin, the Pakistan-based self-styled head of the United Jihad Council.
“The brazen admission by Syed Salahuddin of perpetrating terrorist attacks on India and having the capacity to carry out such attacks at any place and time in India is a further proof of Pakistan’s continuing policy of cross border terrorism,” he said.
Baglay demanded that Pakistan must give up its policy of cross-border terrorism, fulfill its obligations under international resolutions and stop all activities of terrorists from the territory under Pakistan’s control.
The MEA spokesperson further said that “the interview only highlights the unabashed manner in which terrorist organisations and leaders enjoy freedom of operations in Pakistan, including access to terror financing and procurement and supply of weapons for terrorism.”
Baglay also added that “It is a matter of deep regret that senior Pakistan functionaries continue to justify and defend the activities of such internationally designated terrorist entities and leaders who are responsible for killing thousands of innocent civilians over the past three decades.
“Pakistan must give up its policy of cross-border terrorism, fulfill its obligations under international resolutions and stop all activities of terrorists from the territory under Pakistan’s control.”
Salahuddin had in the interview claimed that his group had the capability to launch attacks inside India and that he can easily get weapons in Pakistan for terror strikes.
Sources said Salahuddin’s confession of carrying out terror attacks within and even outside Kashmir has exposed Pakistan further that its territory was being openly used for fanning terrorism against India by Hizbul Mujahideen supremo and his associates.
The US declared him a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist” on June 27.
“We are not terrorists… Our struggle is for freedom from India and it will continue till the liberation of Kashmir,” the 71-year-old Kashmiri separatist leader, who is based in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, had said in the interview.
In the interview Salahuddin has admitted that they carried out terror attacks even outside the Kashmir valley but added that situation changed after 9/11 (Mumbai terror attack) and “we stopped these attacks as India would have got a chance to brand Kashmir “struggle” as terrorism.
In the interview, Salahuddin mentioned the names of separatists like Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Yasin Malik and Shabir Shah saying they were playing their role.
The United States had on June 26 designated Salahuddin as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) under Section I (b) of Executive Order 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 the US.
On Saturday, five days after being named a ‘global terrorist’ Salahuddin held a rally in Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) where he called US President Donald Trump ‘crazy’ for the action against him.
The US State Department’s notification specified that all Americans are now “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 US State Department said in its notification.
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