The central government has taken a big step to break the back of terrorism. The government on Saturday officially declared 23 Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists as ‘terrorists’. In the notification issued by the Home Ministry, it has been said that all of them were involved in terrorist recruitment, infiltration, training, supply of weapons through drones and conspiracy of attacks in Jammu and Kashmir.
This step of the government has been taken at a time when security agencies are continuously monitoring the activities of terrorist networks operating from across the border, supply of weapons through drones and radical recruitment activities through social media.
Declared terrorist under UAPA
According to the information, the government has issued a notification declaring 23 terrorists as terrorists under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act i.e. UAPA. All these 23 names have been included in the fourth schedule of UAPA. Most of these terrorists are associated with Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba and are living in Pakistan or Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.
3 close associates of Hafiz Saeed also included
Three close associates of Lashkar chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed are also included in this list. According to the Home Ministry, all three have been directly involved in carrying out terrorist activities in India and radicalizing the youth. According to the notification, 54-year-old Rana Iftikhar coordinates between various Jihadi organizations and inspires youth for terrorist activities.
52 year old Abdul Rauf is associated with both Lashkar and Jamaat-ud-Dawa. He is engaged in raising funds and making terrorist plans and works directly under the command of Hafiz Saeed. 51 year old Hafiz Khalid Waleed has been described as the mastermind of many terrorist incidents, he carries out terrorist activities while under the protection of Hafiz Saeed.
Names related to Nagrota and Sunjwan attacks
Among the 23 names, there are 3 terrorists who are said to be related to the attack on the army camp in Nagrota in 2016 and 2 are related to the attack on Sunjwan Military Station in 2018. 52 year old Mufti Mohammad Asghar Khan alias Abu Saad, a resident of Abbaspur in PoK, has been described as the launching commander of Jaish. In the notification, he has been called a key conspirator of the attack on the army camp in Nagrota on 29 November 2016. 56-year-old Hafiz Abdul Shakur is also accused of being involved in the Nagrota attack and launching terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir for Jaish. The name of 47-year-old Abdullah Jihadi is also linked to the Nagrota attack.
The name of 41-year-old Masood Ilyas Kashmiri alias Mufti Masood Ilyas has come to light in connection with the Sunjwan attack. He is a resident of Rawalkot in PoK and is a senior Jaish official. He is accused of recruiting, training youth and infiltrating them into India. The Center has also linked him to the attack on security forces in Sunjwan, Jammu on 22 April 2022. Mohammad Musaddiq alias Doctor alias Hamza, 38, is a resident of Shakargarh in Narowal district of Pakistan. He is the main handler of Jaish infiltration and was involved in the Sunjwan attack. The notification states that he sent arms and ammunition through drones across the border. Apart from this, he also handled the cyber wing of Jaish which used to recruit youth through social media.
Crackdown on drones, cyber and funding networks
The Center has also declared many names who were involved in spreading terrorism in a modern way. 40-year-old Mohammad Shahid Faisal is said to have links with Lashkar, Al-Qaeda and ISIS modules. He used to recruit through social media, provide arms training in Pakistan and raise funds for terrorist activities. He is also accused of providing training to dodge law agencies by using data encryption and fake identities.
38-year-old Nazir Ahmed Gujjar is accused of sending a consignment of weapons through drone. Wasim Noor Jat was also involved in the delivery of drones, weapons and ammunition. Firdous Ahmed Bhat used to provide safe passage to foreign terrorists to bring them across the border into India. Ghulam Farid is accused of carrying out illegal activities in the country and providing arms to other terrorists. Haroon Rashid Ghani was engaged in recruiting youth into terrorist organizations.
Other big names of Jaish and Lashkar
Jaish coordinator Maulana Imdad Ullah Makki, 46, has also been included in the list. He has been described as the head of several factions of Jaish. 57-year-old Maulana Saifullah Khalid is active in several factions of Jamaat-ud-Dawa and is working with the intention of carrying out terrorist activities. Bilal Ahmed Mir is associated with Lashkar and The Resistance Front and is involved in cross-border terrorist conspiracy. Abid Qayoom used to help in loan funding and terrorist logistics. Whereas Mohammad Yakub used to provide logistics and financial help to the terrorists. Maulana Yusuf Taibi is associated with many factions of Lashkar/Jamaat-ud-Dawa. The names of Qari Yakub Shaikh and Owais Farooz are also in the list. Ashfaq Ahmed is accused of providing technical help and raising funds.
Why was this step taken
The Home Ministry said that security and investigation agencies are constantly keeping an eye on the cross-border networks that are keeping terrorism alive in Jammu and Kashmir through drones, encrypted communication and online recruitment. The purpose of declaring these 23 people as terrorists under UAPA is to confiscate their property, ban their travel and break their network.
The government believes that in the last few years, these modules operating from Pakistan’s soil have adopted new methods of dropping weapons through drones and spreading radicalism through social media. This list will provide legal basis to the security agencies to take more stringent action against them.
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