Sayeed Salahudeen

Syed Mohammed Yusuf Shah, popularly known as Syed Salahudeen, is the head of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, a Kashmir-based militant terrorist 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.

Early life 

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. 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.

Political life 

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.

Hizbul Mujahideen 

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 and then adopted nom de guerre "Sayeed Salahudeen", named after Saladin, the 12th century Muslim political and military leader, who fought in the Crusades.

“ We are fighting Pakistan's war in Kashmir and if it withdraws its support, the war would be fought inside Pakistan, ”

— Sayeed Salahudeen