Mohammad Yusuf Shah, commonly known as Syed Salahuddin, is the head of

Hizbul Mujahideen Hizbul Mujahideen, also spelled Hizb-ul-Mujahideen ( ar, حزب المجاھدین, ), is an Islamism, Islamist militant organization operating in the Kashmir region. Its goal is to separate Kashmir Valley, Kashmir from India and merge it with ...

, a separatist organization operating in Kashmir. He also heads the

United Jihad Council The United Jihad Council, also known as the Muttahida Jihad Council (MJC), is an Islamist Jihadist organisation formed by the Pakistan Army for unified command and control over the anti-Indian terror groups operating in Jammu and Kashmir. It was ...

, a Pakistan-based conglomeration of jihadist militant groups sponsored by the ISI, with the goal of merging Jammu and Kashmir with Pakistan. 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." He is listed on the

Most Wanted List A most wanted list is a list of criminals and alleged criminals who are believed to be at large and are identified as a law enforcement agency's highest priority for capture. The list can alert the public to be watchful, and generates publicity ...

of India's

National Investigation Agency The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is the primary counter-terrorist task force of India. The agency is empowered to deal with the investigation of terror related crimes across states without special permission from the states under written ...

. He is named as a

Specially Designated Global Terrorist A Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) is a person or entity that has been designated as such by the United States Department of State or the US Department of the Treasury. An SDGT designation is made under authority of US Executive Order ...

by the

US Department Of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other ...

. Salahuddin dismissed the listing as "a joint move by the US, Israel, and India to express their animosity towards Pakistan." Pakistan also dismissed sanction against him. In May 2020, an attack on him was called a warning by Pakistani intelligence. In August 2020 India's

Enforcement Directorate The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) is a law enforcement agency and economic intelligence agency responsible for enforcing economic laws and fighting economic crime in India. It is part of the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, Gover ...

filed a charge-sheet. A court in New Delhi issued a summons in 2021 in relation to a terror funding case. In 2022, India's NIA court ordered charges to be framed against him and others.

Early life

Syed Mohammad Yusuf Shah was born in December 1946 in

Soibugh Soibugh is a town in Budgam district in the Indian-administered States and union territories of India, union territory of Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), Jammu and Kashmir. It is from the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir (union territory ...

Budgam Budgam (), known as Badgom (; ) in Kashmiri, is a town in Budgam district in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, India. In the 2001 census, it was recorded as having a notified area committee,This gives the population of Budgam adgamN. ...

, a village in the Kashmir Valley. His maternal grandfather Gulla Saheb was a well-known spiritual figure. His father was a farmer.'Nobody can hand me over to India'
Rediff, 8 August 2006. Yusuf Shah studied under his grandfather's guidance, who took an interest in his education. In high school, Shah composed poetry in English and became an impressive debater. He finished Intermediate in science with first class marks. Then he studied arts at the Sri Pratap College, Srinagar and Masters in Political Science at the

University of Kashmir The University of Kashmir (U-K, UoK), informally known as Kashmir University (KU), is a collegiate public state university located on the western side of Dal Lake in the city of Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir, India which was established in 1948 ...

, receiving his degree in 1971. Later he became an Islamic teacher at a

madrasa Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. The word is variously transliterated '' ...

Jamaat-e-Islami

A year after his graduation, Yusuf Shah was appointed as the tehsil chief of

Jamaat-e-Islami Kashmir The Jamaat-e-Islami Kashmir or Jamaat-e-Islami Jammu and Kashmir (JIJK) is an Islamic political party based in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India. It is distinct from the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind. The organisation's stated position on the Kashmi ...

for Budgam. Later he became the chief Nizam-e-Aala for the Jamaat-e-Islami's student wing, Tehreek-e-Talaba. In 1986, he was appointed the district chief of Jamaat for the Srinagar district. According to a biography in the ''

Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media, an entity controlled by the KK Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia. It was founded by Sunder Singh Ly ...

'', he was a notable Islamic scholar and preacher. Abhishek Saha
Syed Salahuddin: From political science student in Kashmir to ‘global terrorist’
Hindustan times, 27 June 2017. His Friday sermons at the Exhibition Grounds in Srinagar were popular with the youth. His sermons were contemporary and "had the power to articular what was in our minds", according to Showkat Ahmad Bakhshi of the

Islamic Students League Yasin Malik (born 3 April 1966) is a Kashmiri separatist leader and former militant who advocates the separation of Kashmir from both India and Pakistan. He is the Chairman of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front, which originally spearheaded arm ...

. Saima Bhat
Battleground Amira Kadal
Kashmir Life, 24 March 2016. In 1987, Yusuf Shah contested the J&K assembly election as a candidate of the Muslim United Front, in Srinagar's

Amira Kadal Of all the seven historical bridges of Srinagar, the Amira Kadal Bridge also referred to as the "first Bridge" is a relatively newer one if compared with the rest of the six bridges. Built in 1774–77 by the Afghan Governor Amir Khan Sher Jawa ...

constituency. The Islamic Students League campaigned for him and provided the "street power" to counter the cadres of the National Conference.

Yasin Malik Yasin Malik (born 3 April 1966) is a Kashmiri separatist leader and former militant who advocates the separation of Kashmir from both India and Pakistan. He is the Chairman of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front, which originally spearheaded ar ...

served as his campaign manager and Ajaz Dar, who had a licensed gun, served as his unofficial bodyguard. There is consensus among the scholars that the election was 'stolen' and

Ghulam Mohiuddin Shah Ghulam ( ar, غلام, ) is an Arabic word meaning ''servant'', ''assistant'', ''boy'', or ''youth''. It is used to describe young servants in paradise. It is also used to refer to slave-soldiers in the Abbasid, Ottoman, Safavid and to a lesser ...

of the National Conference was declared as the winner despite Yusuf Shah having had the lead. Yusuf Shah as well as Yasin Malik, along with other supporters, were arrested and put in jail without trial.

Hizbul Mujahideen

After his arrest for violent protests and release in 1989, he then joined

founded by Muhammad Ahsan Dar alias "Master" who later parted from Hizbul Mujahideen. He soon took over as the chief of Hizbul Mujahideen and then adopted ''nom de guerre'' "Syed Salahuddin", named after

Saladin Yusuf ibn Ayyub ibn Shadi () ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known by the epithet Saladin,, ; ku, سه‌لاحه‌دین, ; was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from an ethnic Kurdish family, he was the first of both Egypt and ...

, the 12th century Muslim political and military leader, who fought in the

Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were ...

. In June 2012 in an interview, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin accepted that Pakistan had been backing Hizb-ul-Mujahideen for fight in Kashmir. He had declared to start attacking Pakistan if it ceased support of

jihadis Jihadism is a neologism which is used in reference to "militant Islamic movements that are perceived as existentially threatening to the West" and "rooted in political Islam."Compare: Appearing earlier in the Pakistani and Indian media, Wes ...

in Jammu and Kashmir, as they were fighting "Pakistan's war".

Designation as a terrorist by U.S.

On 26 June 2017 the

US Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other ...

has designated Mohammad Yusuf Shah, also known as Syed Salahuddin, as a

(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. He is designated as an Indian national with a date of birth of 1952 and addresses in

Muzaffarabad Muzaffarabad (; ur, ) is the capital and largest city of Azad Kashmir, and the 60th largest in Pakistan. The city is located in Muzaffarabad District, near the confluence of the Jhelum and Neelum rivers. The district is bounded by the Pak ...

(the capital of Azad Kashmir, Pakistan), Rawalpindi (the Pakistan military headquarters) and

Islamabad Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital ...

. Pakistan rejected the US sanctions against him.

Family

Shah is married, with five sons and two daughters. Two sons were removed from government offices in Jammu and Kashmir in 2021. In the next month one of his sons, Syed Shakeel Yousuf, in a terror funding case. Shahid, another son, had been arrested before.

References

Bibliography

External links

Who is Syed Salahuddin, chief of Hizbul Mujahideen?
''Indian Express'', 30 June 2017.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Salahuddin, Syed 1946 births Fugitives wanted by India Fugitives wanted on terrorism charges Indian expatriates in Pakistan Indian Islamists Living people Kashmiri militants People from Budgam district University of Kashmir alumni Prisoners and detainees of India Indian people imprisoned on charges of terrorism People charged with terrorism Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List Individuals designated as terrorists by the United States government Leaders of Islamic terror groups