In a recent interview, Pakistan-based Kashmiri jihadist commander Syed Salahuddin criticized former Pakistani president General Pervez Musharraf for adopting a policy of retreat on Pakistan's support to the Kashmiri militant organizations. Salahuddin, who is the Supreme Commander of Pakistan-based Kashmiri militant organization Hizbul Mujahideen, said that India took advantage of General Musharraf's concessions and an informal ceasefire in Kashmir by hatching conspiracies against Pakistan, especially in Baluchistan province.
His comments came in the wake of the WikiLeaks revelations that General Musharraf had advised the militant groups in Kashmir to give up fighting. Salahuddin, who also heads the Pakistani militant organizations' alliance called Muttahida Jihad Council (MUJ), noted however that the armed part of the Kashmiri movement weakened after 9/11, following which Pakistani ruler General Musharraf decided to side with the U.S. in its war on terror, thereby delegitimizing Islamic extremist movements in South Asia.
In the interview with pro-jihadist Urdu-language Pakistani newspaper Roznama Ummat, Syed Salahuddin said that anti-India protests in Indian Kashmir are evidence of the continuing Kashmiri movement. He also rejected a statement of former Pakistani Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif that Pakistan should not treat India as enemy number one. Salahuddin said: "We are opposed to this statement of Mian Nawaz Sharif. His stand is against the ground realities of Kashmir. India has been Pakistan's enemy number one in the past, and it is so even today."
