The 71-year-old Salahuddin crossed over to Pakistan in 1989 after losing the assembly election in 1987. As chairman of the United Jehad Council (UJC), which is the umbrella of several terror outfits, he is steering terror activities in the Kashmir valley from a safe house that has reportedly been provided to him by the ISI of the Pakistan army. He is responsible for hundreds of killings of security personnel and innocent people in J-K.

A large number of educated youths in Jammu and Kashmir are sitting jobless, but Salahudddin’s four of the five sons and two daughters have been given cosy jobs by the Jammu and Kashmir government. His both daughters and a son have been given home posting and the successive governments did not dare to shift them out of the Budgam district.

One of his sons, Syed Mueed, IT manager in the Entrepreneurship Develeopment Institute (EDI) at Pampore in the outskirts of Srinagar, was rescued along with about 100 persons by the Army when terrorists stormed the EDI building last year and they were caught in the crossfire.

Among his other sons, Syed Shakeel Ahmad is a medical assistant in the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) in Srinagar and Wahid Yusuf is a doctor in the SKIMS. His daughters, Naseema and Akhtara are government teachers.

It is learnt that he remains in constant touch with his family through the network of Over-Ground Workers (OWGs) of various terrorist organisations.

Salahuddin in his capacity as head of the UJC on Monday gave the call for week-long mass agitation in Kashmir from 8 Julyto mark the first death anniversary of Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) commander Burhan Wani who was killed in an encounter with security forces.

Salahuddin through the social media is known to be motivating the Kashmiri youth to join terrorist outfits and has been arranging their training by the Pakistani army and launching them back in J&K.

Before slipping into Pakistan, Salahuddin was actively engaged with the Muslim United Front (MUF) and was also an Islamic preacher with the Jamaat-e-Islami. He graduated from the Sri Pratap College in Srinagar and did his MA in political science from the Kashmir University in 1971. He gradually drifted towards terrorism and, in 1991, while sitting in Pakistan, became chief of the HM.