WHY US CURBS AGAINST HIZBUL NOT A BIG DEAL?

Does India have any reason to rejoice after the United States added Hizbul Mujahideen to its blacklist of nearly 60 terrorist organizations and designated it as a foreign terrorist organization? Will it any way help India in its fight against terrorism in Kashmir where Hizbul, one of the largest and oldest militant groups, is fighting against Indian security forces?

How does it make any difference if the US freezes any assets of Hizbul Mujahideen it may be holding there, and barring US citizens from engaging in any transactions with the group? The US move is nothing but to please the Indian leadership while doing little to put pressure on Pakistan to rein in militants operating from its soil.

Moreover, how does the US’ latest action help India in its fight against terrorism? Do terrorist organizations maintain bank accounts in their names? It’s a known fact that most of the terror activities are financed through cash and that too through illegal hawala transactions.

Also there is a widespread practice among Muslims of donating money to charities which have over the years played a major role in financing terrorist groups. Charities based in Saudi Arabia for long were involved in sponsor and financing of terrorist organizations before the government launched a crackdown against them under pressure from the US. There is no denying the fact that several charity organizations in the Muslim world diverted “zakat” to finance “jihad” (the so-called holy war).” “Zakat, considered to be one of the five pillars of Islam, was meant to giving alms to the poor and needy and spread the message of Islam. But the money was grossly misused by charities in the Middle East.

Then there is drug money. Reams of reports are available to link the billions-dollar opiate trade to terror groups. Al-Qaeda’s rapid growth in Afghanistan was directly linked to the illegal opium trade.  According to a report by the United Nations, Afghanistan’s poppy crops were the major source of terror funding and Al-Qaeda was the main beneficiary from the illegal drug trade in the late nineties before the collapse of the illegitimate Taliban government in 2001.

Of late, the Islamic State has emerged as the wealthiest terror group by engaging in illicit trade in oil after it occupied vast tract of territories in Iraq and Syria. According to conservative estimates, the group makes as much as $ 3 million a day, a huge amount compared to a paltry amount needed to carry out acts of terror.

Therefore, it is amply clear that the US move claiming “such designations are aimed at denying individuals and entities access to the US financial system” will have any impact as far as the insurgency in Kashmir is concerned.

Had President Donald Trump lived up to promises which he made during electioneering, the war against terrorism could have taken a paradigm shift? "We will defeat radical Islamic terrorism when I’m president. We will stand shoulder to shoulder with India in sharing intelligence and keeping our people safe mutually," Trump had said during electioneering. But all those promises seem hollow now.

Pakistan made a mockery of the US by allowing Syed Salahuddin, the head of Hizbul Mujahideen, to address a press conference at Muzaffarabad’s Centre Press Club soon after he was named as a specially designated global terrorist by the US department of state on June 26 this year.

Both Salahuddin as well as India’s most wanted terrorist, Hafiz Saeed, who also carries a $10 million bounty on his head by the US, have been openly holding rallies spewing venom against India and the US. Had the US been serious in its fight against terrorism, it could have easily put pressure on Pakistan to take action against them. If the US could enter Pakistani territory and smoke out al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in May 2011, mastermind of the deadly September 11 attacks, could not it do the same with Salahuddin and Saeed? It is not that the US can’t, but it won’t do it. For, Laden was a direct threat to the US as his jihadis were fighting against the US military forces in Afghanistan. As far as Salahuddin and Saeed are concerned, they don’t pose any threat to the US as both have been carrying out terrorist operations in Kashmir.

The US is more concerned about Afghanistan than Kashmir where its forces are in direct line of fire. And it knows it very well that it cannot ensure a decisive victory in Afghanistan without the help of Pakistan. Otherwise what explains the US decision to continue patting Pakistan occasionally in spite of Laden being provided a safe sanctuary by Pakistan?

Therefore, India should do well not to rejoice at such theatrics and sharpen its own strategy to meet with the challenge. Militancy in Kashmir is India’s own headache and it has to win this war without anybody’s help.