The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Tuesday designated 18 more individuals, all Pakistan based, as “terrorists” under the amended anti-terror law that was passed by Parliament last year.
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The list includes seven Indians who are now in Pakistan.
The Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), 1967, as amended in August last year empowersthe MHA to designate individuals as terrorists. Earlier, 13 individuals were designated as terrorists.
Those designated as terrorists include Hizb-ul-Mujahideen commander Syed Salahudeen, founders of Indian Mujahideen Riyaz and Iqbal Bhatkal and gangster Dawood Ibrahim’s close aide Chota Shakeel.
The MHA said the Bhatkal brothers were involved in various terrorist acts in India, including the blasts at German Bakery in Pune (2010); Chinnaswami Stadium, Bangalore (2010); Jama Masjid (2010); Sheetlaghat (2010), Mumbai (2011) and serial blasts at Jaipur (2008), Delhi (2008), Ahmedabad and Surat (2008).
Also read: Masood Azhar, Hafiz Saeed, Lakhvi, Dawood Ibrahim declared terrorists under new anti-terror law
Shakeel, a Pakistan-based associate of Dawood Ibrahim “looks after all criminal and underworld operations of D-Company, finances D-Company operatives of India and was involved in the smuggling of firearms to Gujarat in 1993,” the Ministry stated.
Pompeo visit
The designation, in alignment with laws in the European Union (EU) countries, the U.S.A., China, Israel, Pakistan and Sri Lanka comes on a day when U.S Secretary of State Michael Pompeo is on an official visit to India.
The others are: Sajid Mir, top Lashar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander based in Pakistan who was one of the main planners of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack; Yusuf Muzammil, LeT’s commander for operations in Jammu and Kashmir and also an accused in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack; Abdur Rehman Makki, brother-in-law of LeT chief Hafiz Saeed and head of the terror group’s political affairs and foreign relations department; Shahid Mehmood alias Shahid Mehmood Rehmatullah, deputy chief of Falah-i-lnsaniyat Foundation (FIF), an LeT front; Farhatullah Ghori alias Abu Sufiyan, who was involved in the attack on Akshardham Temple (2002) and suicide attack on Task Force office in Hyderabad (2005); Abdul Rauf Asghar, a key person involved in setting up militant training camps in Pakistan and main conspirator in the 2001 terrorist attack on Parliament; Ibrahim Athar involved in the 1999 hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight lC-814 and a conspirator in Parliament attack case; Yusuf Azhar, who is involved in IC-814 hijacking; Shahid Latif, Jaish-e-Mohamamd’s (JeM) commander in Sialkot sector who is actively involved in launching JeM terrorists in India and played a key role involved in planning, facilitation and execution of terror attacks in India; Ghulam Nabi Khan, deputy supreme commander of the Hizb; Zaffar Hussain Bhat, deputy chief of the Hizb who also handles the finances of the terror group and sends money to its operatives in the Kashmir Valley; Mohammad Anis Shaikh accused in the 1993 Bombay bomb blast case where he supplied arms, ammunition and hand grenades; Ibrahim Memon, who hatched the criminal conspiracy of the 1993 Bombay blasts; and Javed Chikna alias Javed Dawood Tailor, an associate of Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar, involved in the 1993 Bombay blast case.
In September 2019, the four individuals to be first designated as terrorists were Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar, Hafiz Saeed, his deputy Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, and Dawood Ibrahim.
