United States of America declared Hizbul Mujahideen chief, Syed Salahudeen as a global terrorist. The man responsible for the Kashmir unrest and killing of several Indian soldiers will now have the heat on him turned on after being designated a global terrorist.
Who is Syed Salahudeen?
Syed Mohammed Yusuf Shah, popularly known as Syed Salahudeen, is the head of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen. He is also the head of an alliance called the United Jihad Council which supports the annexation of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir to Pakistan.
He was born on February 18 1946 in Badgam, Jammu and Kashmir. He has five sons and two daughters. Salahudeen was the 7th child of his parents. He was raised in Soibugh, Budgam. His father worked in the postal department.
Yusuf Shah initially became interested in studying medicine, but later on decided to become a civil servant. While studying Political Science at the University of Kashmir, he was influenced by the Jamaat-e-Islami, and become a member of its branch in Jammu and Kashmir.
At university, he became increasingly radicalised, and got involved in persuading Muslim women to veil themselves,observe orthodox Shariah and also took part in processions in support of Pakistan. After university instead of taking the civil service exam he became an Islamic teacher at a madrasa.
He is married, with five sons. His oldest son, Shakeel Yousuf, works as a medical assistant at Srinagar’s Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, second son Javed Yousuf works in the Education Department as computer operator, while Shahid Yousuf is a Research Fellow at the Sher-i-Kashmir University of Agricultural Science and Technology. Shah’s fourth son, Wahid Yusuf, is a doctor at Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences.
Mueed Yusuf, the youngest of Shah’s sons, is working at Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI), Srinagar, Kashmir.
In 1987, Yusuf Shah decided to contest the J&K assembly election on the ticket of the Muslim United Front, a coalition of political parties in Srinagar’s Amirakadal Constituency.
Mohammad Yusuf Shah who stood for the Legislative Assembly elections in 1987 from Amirakadal, Srinagar. He came second after Ghulam Mohiuddin Shah of the moderate National Conference won the seat. Mohammed Yusuf Shah was arrested and put in jail for his violent agitations.
After his arrest for violent protests and release in 1989, he then joined Hizbul Mujahideen founded by Muhammad Ahsan Dar alias ‘Master’ who later parted from Hizbul Mujahideen. He soon took over as the chief of Hizbul Mujahideen with Pakistani ISI’s blessings, and then adopted nom de guerre ‘Sayeed Salahudeen’, named after Saladin, the 12th century Muslim political and military leader, who fought in the Crusades.
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