ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tuesday strongly criticised the US decision to impose sanctions on Syed Salahuddin, senior leader of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HuM). “The designation of individuals supporting the Kashmiri right to self-determination as terrorists is completely unjustified,” the Foreign Office said in a statement. Hizb-ul-Mujahideen is one of several groups that have for decades been fighting Indian troops and police deployed in the occupied territory, calling for independence or a merger with Pakistan. The FO statement complained of “gross and systematic violations of human rights” in Indian-held Kashmir. “Over the past one year the world has witnessed an intensification of the brutal policies of repression being pursued by the Indian occupation forces.” The sanctions move means the United States now considers Salahuddin, also known as Mohammad Yusuf Shah, a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist”, the State Department said in a statement. US officials said Salahuddin last September vowed to block any peaceful resolution to the Kashmir conflict, and threatened to train more suicide bombers and to turn the disputed valley “into a graveyard for Indian forces”. The new sanctions mean American citizens are generally barred from doing business with Salahuddin, and all his assets subject to US jurisdiction are blocked. The designation was announced just before Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was due at the White House for his first face-to-face meeting with President Donald Trump. Meanwhile, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan vowed that there would never be any compromise on rights of Kashmiris, and Pakistan would continue to support their just cause till realisation of their right of self-determination in accordance with UN resolutions. Mentioning the Trump-Modi meeting, he said that it “gives the impression as if there was no importance of bloodletting of innocent Kashmiris by India”. The interior minister said that the right to self-determination and freedom from Indian subjugation was destiny of Kashmiris and “no power on earth can deprive them of their legitimate right”. Nisar lamented that the US administration had started speaking the language of India, which was not only guilty of grave human rights violations in Indian-held Kashmir but also trying to portray the just freedom struggle as terrorism. “India’s oppressive posture should have been a source of concern for a principled and conscientious nation.” The interior minister said the statement of the American administration gave an impression as if international laws on human rights were not applicable in the case of Kashmiris, and serious crimes – including bloodbath of innocent people – could be ignored. Published in Daily Times, June 29th, 2017.