Pakistan says will continue to extend support to separatists in Kashmir

Islamabad: A day after the United States declared Hizbul Mujahideen militant Syed Salahuddin as a global terrorist, Pakistan has said it would continue to extend political, diplomatic and moral support to Kashmiri separatists for what it called their struggle for their right to self-determination and for the peaceful settlement of the Kashmir dispute as per the UN Security Council resolutions.

Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said that "the designation of individuals supporting the Kashmiri right to self-determination as terrorists is completely unjustified".

"Pakistan shall continue to extend political, diplomatic and moral support for the just struggle of the Kashmiri people for the realization of the right to self-determination and the peaceful resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with UN Security Council Resolutions," Zakaria said.

Just ahead of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump meeting on Monday, the Trump administration termed Syed Salahuddin as specially designated global terrorist

"Mohammad Yusuf Shah, AKA Syed Salahuddin, is the senior leader of the militant group Hizbul Mujahideen (HM). In September, 2016, 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." Under Salahuddin's tenure as senior HM leader, HM has claimed responsibility for several attacks, including the April 2014 explosives attack in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, which injured 17 people," US Department of State said in a statement.

In June 2012 in an interview, Salahuddin accepted that Pakistan had been backing Hizb-ul-Mujahideen for fight in Kashmir.

The new sanctions mean American citizens are generally barred from doing business with Salahuddin, and all his assets subject to US jurisdiction are blocked.