NEW DELHI: Demonstrating its unwavering commitment to ‘zero-tolerance’ policy against terrorism, the govt on Saturday designated 23 Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK)-based functionaries of Lashker e Taiba, Jaish e Mohammad and other terror outfits and affiliates, as ‘individual terrorists’ under Schedule 4 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.Announcing the action on X, home minister Amit Shah said the 23 dreaded terror functionaries were proscribed in pursuit of “Narendra Modi Ji’s vision of zero tolerance against terror”.“The designated terrorists are involved in anti-India activities, carrying out terror attacks, inciting terror, trafficking arms, infiltrating through the border, facilitating terrorist organisations, raising funds and recruiting terrorists. Out of the 23 terrorists announced today, 17 are Pakistani nationals and 6 are Indian nationals. However, all of them at present operate terrorist activities from Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir,” he stated.As per the dossiers prepared on them by the intelligence agencies, the 23 terrorists were linked to past attacks on Indian security forces at Pathankot (2016), Pampore (2016), Nagrota (2016), Sunjuwan (2022), and Pampore (2016); terror strikes in the hinterland targeted at civilians, like the Rameshwaram Cafe blast (2024) and Mangalore cooker blast; and also conducting reconnaissance of sites like the Ram janam bhoomi complex and the RSS headquarters at Nagpur for future terror attacks. One of the six Indian nationals, Mohammed Shaheed, hails from Bengaluru but currently based in Rawalpindi, and is a head-hunter for LeT, Jaish, al Qaeda and ISIS who recruits youth via social media, for terror activities.The latest action under UAPA — which takes the total number of designated individual terrorists to 80, comes a couple of days after 117 eminent citizens of India and Pakistan, including J&K politicians Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti and former RAW chief A S Dulat, jointly wrote to the Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan, seeking a thaw in hostilities between the two neighbours. It is being seen as a clear signal that India remains firm on its policy that “talks and terror” cannot go on together.Among those slapped with the ‘terrorist’ tag are Hafiz Khalid Walid, son-in-law of LeT chief Hafiz Mohammed Sayeed and mastermind of the June 2016 Pampore attack in which 8 CRPF personnel were killed. Masood Ilyas Kashmiri, a close confidant of Jaish chief Maulana Masood Azhar and key coordinator of infiltration into Kashmir, is also on the list.Maulana Imdad Ullakh Makki, who heads the Jaish’s prisoner wing and legal affairs department, was involved in real-time coordination with terrorists who struck at the Pathankot air base in January 2016 while another proscribed terrorist, Ashfaq Ahmed was one of the subscribers of the Pakistani mobile numbers used in the attack. Mufti Mohammad Asghar Khan, who serves as head of the Jaish’s military wing in PoJK, runs terror training camps in Muzaffarabad and was a key conspirator behind the 2016 Nagrota attack.Qari Yaqub Sheikh who contested the 2018 Pakistan general election on a Mili Muslim League (MML) ticket is, as per the MHA notification hanning him, the primary fundraiser for LeT from Saudi Arabia; and online handler for the Rameshwaran terror blast Mohammad Shahid Faisal recruits local youth by circulating jihadist videos on the social media.The home ministry, in a statement on Saturday, said the UAPA action will “not only help dismantle the terror ecosystem by curbing their financial networks, movements, recruitment capabilities, and terror-linked activities, but will also send a strong message of deterrence against anti-national and terrorist acts”. It added: “It will enhance the capacity of security and law enforcement agencies to initiate coordinated legal, investigative, and preventive actions at both national and international levels”.Also banned on Saturday for facilitating infiltration and running launchpads across the border is Rana Iftikhar, a close associate of LeT head Hafiz Sayeed and key manager of finances for the outfit’s Kashmir operations. Hafiz Abdul Shakoor, a Pakistani terrorist linked to Jaish and Harkat ul Mujahideen, had participated in the Afghan war in 1995-96 and has been coordinating terror activities with ISI since. Many of the terrorists slapped with the UAPA ban were involved in running launchpads in PoJK, facilitating infiltration into J&K and also sending across arms and ammunition, including via drones, for use in terror attacks targeted against India.The list also includes maulanas (clerics) involved in delivering sermons at LeT/JuD-controlled religious centres but who are really furthering the outfits’ jihadist and terror agenda. Most of the Indian nationals banned on Saturday had crossed the border on valid documents and stayed on in Pakistan to carry out terror activities against India.
