MUZAFFARABAD, Oct 16: Kashmir’s dominant freedom fighter group, Hizbul Mujahideen, on Tuesday deplored the US action against two Mujahideen organizations fighting Indian rule in the disputed Himalayan region.

“The US decision regarding the Harkatul Mujahideen and the Jaish-i-Muhammad is deplorable, because these two groups are fighting against illegal Indian occupation of Kashmir and have no link with terrorism,” Hizb Supreme Commander Syed Salahuddin said.

The Hizb chief is also chairman of the Mutahidda Jihad Council, an alliance of the Mujahideen groups. Jaish is yet to become a member of the alliance.

Mr Salahuddin said the US was increasing its enemies with such steps and it must review its decisions regarding the Kashmiri Mujahideen organizations.

He, however, made it clear that the restrictions on the Mujahideen groups would not affect their activities, because the “US did not wield any control on them.”

“The US leaders must keep in mind that such decisions create disappointment in freedom seeking Kashmiris on the one hand and encourage India to carry on its repressive measures in occupied Kashmir on the other.”

Replying to a question about the attacks on Afghanistan, the Kashmiri commander said the strikes on unarmed Afghans in the name of curbing terrorism were condemnable.

“The US and its allies have not succeeded in achieving their target from the military action against Afghanistan and therefore they must adopt a political and diplomatic course,” he said.

He said the “savage bombing” in Afghanistan was hurting the feeling of the Muslims across the globe and thus evoking a strong reaction against the US.

The Hizb chief said India wanted to cash on the situation and was making desperate attempts to link the freedom struggle in Kashmir with terrorism.

New Delhi made desperate several attempts to pursue the US to take action against the Kashmiri Mujahideen, with the strikes on Afghanistan, but failed, he said.

With reference to Indian attack on the Pakistani posts along the Line of Control (LoC) on Monday, Mr Salahuddin cautioned that India could take the benefit of the prevailing situation in Pakistan, in which the attention was focussed on Afghanistan, and go for any misadventure along the dividing line.

But, he said, as far as the Mujahideen’s operations in the occupied territory were concerned, India could not scale them down despite the use of brute force.

“The struggle in Kashmir enjoys the public support and has been launched to achieve the universally acknowledged right to self-determination that India has usurped,” he said.

He asked the US to realise the clear difference between terrorism and the Kashmiris’ recognized liberation movement and discourage Indian moves in this regard.

“The US must also take action against the state terrorism along with individual terrorism,” he said and added that the terrorism unleashed by Indian troops in held Kashmir and Israeli troops in Palestine should not go unnoticed by the US and its allies, while they were striking against Afghanistan.

In response to a question, he emphatically said there was no training camp of the Mujahideen in Azad Kashmir and all of them existed in the Indian held territory.

He said the Mujahideen groups had worked out a foolproof system to protect their training camps, due to which Indian troops had failed to inflict any damage on them during the past 12 years of the struggle.