US Department of State designates Hizbul Mujahideen as foreign terrorist organisation

The US Department of State on Wednesday designated Hizbul Mujahideen as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation. The US had earlier declared the outfit's Pakistan-based chief Syed Salahuddin as a global terrorist.

The designation, which slaps a series of American sanctions on the militant group, came against the backdrop of upsurge in its terror activities in Kashmir in recent months.

“These designations seek to deny Hizbul Mujahideen the resources it needs to carry out terrorist attacks,” the State Department said in a statement.

Among other consequences, all of Hizbul Mujahideen’s property and interests in property subject to US jurisdiction are blocked, and US persons are generally prohibited from engaging in any transactions with the group.

Earlier on June 26, the US State Department designated Syed Salahuddin, the head of Kashmiri militant group Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, as a specially designated global terrorist.

The move came just hours before the first meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump at the White House.

As a consequence of this designation, US persons were generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with Salahuddin and all of Salahuddin?s property and interests in property subject to the United States jurisdiction were blocked.

With PTI inputs