The Union Home Ministry has designated 23 Pakistan-based individuals, linked to JeM, Lashkar-e-Taiba and other groups, as “terrorists” under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for their involvement in various activities, including infiltration, recruitment, supply of arms and planning attacks in Jammu and Kashmir.
These include close aides to Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafez Saeed, who is behind multiple attacks on Indian soil.
The central government amended the UAPA in August 2019 to include a provision to classify an individual as a terrorist. Before this amendment, only organizations could be classified as terrorist organizations. Designating individuals as terrorists allows agencies such as the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to impose an embargo on arms and funds and seize the assets of such persons.
The current list of designated terrorists includes prominent names like Hafiz Saeed, JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar, co-mastermind of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and US-based Khalistani leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, among others.
With the recent addition of 23 names, the list now includes 80 people designated as terrorists.
According to a notification issued on Saturday morning, these include three close aides of Hafiz Saeed – Abdul Rauf, a senior member of LeT and Jamaat-ud-Dawa; Hafez Khaled Walid, a senior leader of Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Dawa Party; Rana Iftikhar, who coordinates jihadist activities and motivates young people to carry out terrorist activities.
Other key individuals identified by the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs include Masood Ilyas Kashmiri, a senior Jaish-e-Mohammed employee operating from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. He was involved in the April 22, 2022 attack by JeM terrorists on security forces in Songwan, Jammu.
“Masood Ilyas Kashmiri is a senior functionary of Jaish-e-Mohammad and is involved in carrying out a wide range of terrorist activities against the country, including recruiting youth into the Jaish-e-Mohammed terror organisation, providing training to them and subsequently facilitating infiltration of terrorists into the country,” the Ministry of Home Affairs notification said.
Muhammad Musadiq alias Doctor, the main handler of JeM infiltration of Pakistani terrorists into India, has also been included in the list. He was involved in the Sinjuan attack.
“Musaddiq is involved in carrying out a wide range of terrorist activities against the country, including supply of arms and ammunition via cross-border drones, planning terrorist attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, and in order to expand the scope of terrorist activities, he is also involved in dealing with a team of JeM cyber operatives who are using various social media platforms to recruit youth into the JeM terror organisation,” the Ministry of Home Affairs said.
The third senior JeM official listed on Saturday is Mufti Muhammad Asghar Khan alias Abu Saad, who is the launching commander of JeM terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir and was “one of the masterminds of the attack on the Indian Army camp in Nagrota, Jammu, on November 29, 2016.”
