Wanted in India, Salahuddin lives in Rawalpindi under state patronage. He crossed over to Pakistan following the controversial ’87 state assembly election, which he contested under his real name, Yousuf Shah. A folk hero to Kashmiri fighters, he shuffles between Rawalpindi, where the army HQ is, and Muzaffarabad, the capital of PoK. His salience lies in the fact that his group, Hizbul Mujahideen, consists mostly of Kashmiris, thus bolstering the claims of those who describe the Kashmiri movement as indigenous. Salahuddin has openly stated that Islamabad considers him a freedom fighter and therefore wouldn’t hand him over to India.Syed Salahuddin
Wanted in India, Salahuddin lives in Rawalpindi under state patronage. He crossed over to Pakistan following the controversial ’87 state assembly election, which he contested under his real name, Yousuf Shah. A folk hero to Kashmiri fighters, he shuffles between Rawalpindi, where the army HQ is, and Muzaffarabad, the capital of PoK. His salience lies in the fact that his group, Hizbul Mujahideen, consists mostly of Kashmiris, thus bolstering the claims of those who describe the Kashmiri movement as indigenous. Salahuddin has openly stated that Islamabad considers him a freedom fighter and therefore wouldn’t hand him over to India.