Syed Salahuddin
| Sayeed Salahudeen | |
|---|---|
| Born |
18 February 1946 Badgam, State of Jammu and Kashmir, British Raj (now in Jammu and Kashmir, India) |
| Spouse(s) | Nafisa |
| Children | 5 sons, 2 daughters |
Syed Mohammed Yusuf Shah, popularly known as Syed Salahudeen, is the head of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, a mujahid group operating in Kashmir, and head of an alliance of anti-India militant groups, the United Jihad Council, that works to annex the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir to 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 NIA Most Wanted list. On 26 June 2017, he was named as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the US Department Of State. After being designated as a Global terrorist, he addressed the Pakistani Media at Muzaffarabad’s Centre Press Club, claiming that "The declaration was a joint move by the US, Israel, and India to express their animosity towards Pakistan."
Yusuf Shah was the seventh child of middle class parents. He was born and raised in Soibugh, Budgam, a village in the Kashmir Valley. The partition of Kashmir between India and Pakistan happened while he was still an infant. His father worked in the Postal Department of the Indian government.
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 and two daughters. Though he himself heads a radical organisation that calls for all Kashmiris to take up armed struggle against India, none of his own children have joined his movement. 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.
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