India's Ministry of Home Affairs designated 23 Pakistan-based terror operatives as terrorists today (4 July) under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), bringing the total number of individually designated terrorists to 80.
The notification targets individuals linked to banned terror outfits Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), The Resistance Front (TRF), and Jama'at-ud-Dawa (JuD), marking a significant expansion of India's counter-terrorism apparatus.
The designation empowers the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to block finances, impose embargoes on arms sales, and seize assets belonging to the named individuals.
Of the 23 operatives, 10 are affiliated with JeM while 13 are linked to LeT, with some also associated with TRF and JuD.
The ministry accused them of recruiting and training terrorists, facilitating infiltration into Jammu and Kashmir, planning attacks against security forces, and delivering weapons through drones and cross-border networks.
Several operatives have been linked to major terror incidents, including the 2016 Nagrota Army camp attack that killed seven soldiers and the 2018 Sunjwan Military Station attack, in which six soldiers and one civilian were killed.
Three individuals named are close associates of LeT founder Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, including Abdul Rauf, who operates under Saeed's direct command, and Rana Iftikhar, who coordinates amongst anti-Jihadi organisations.
Notably, 11 of the 23 designated terrorists are originally from Jammu and Kashmir and currently reside in Pakistan or Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK).
Seven are based in PoJK while four reside in Pakistan, underscoring what New Delhi describes as cross-border infrastructure supporting terrorism.
The list includes Haroon Rashid Ganai from Anantnag, Nazir Ahmed Gujjar from Doda, and Muhammed Shaheed Faisal from Bengaluru, who allegedly maintains links with LeT, JeM, Al-Qaeda, and ISIS modules.
The UAPA was amended in 2019 to allow the government to designate individual operatives as terrorists, extending beyond organisational bans.
This provision enables central law enforcement agencies to directly target individual financial networks and confiscate illegal arms and physical properties across the country.
The Centre exercised its powers under Section 35 of the UAPA after concluding the individuals were involved in terrorism and activities prejudicial to India's security and sovereignty.