Ram Temple, RSS Recce Accused Among 23 Named Terrorists Under UAPA by MHA

SRINAGAR: The home ministry on Saturday designated 23 Pakistan and PoJK-based individuals as terrorists, including a JeM operative involved in reconnaissance of the Ram temple and RSS headquarters, and LeT founder Hafiz Saeed’s son-in-law. Among them are JeM operative Mohammad Musaddiq, who allegedly reconnoitred the Ram temple, RSS headquarters and Panipat IOCL refinery, and facilitates infiltration and arms drops into India. Another is Masood Ilyas Kashmiri, a close aide of Masood Azhar and a key JeM infiltration coordinator for Kashmir.

The banned individual terrorists under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), 1967 are associated with Jaish-e-Muhammed (JeM), Lashkar-e-Tayyabba (LeT), The Resistance Front (TRF) and Jama’at-ud-Dawa (JuD), and are based in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK). Six of them are Indian nationals now residing in Pakistan or PoJK.

According to the MHA, the designated individuals were involved in activities including planning and executing attacks, recruitment and radicalisation, infiltration into Jammu and Kashmir, terror financing, arms smuggling, logistics management and facilitating cross-border operations.

Of the 23, eleven are originally from Jammu and Kashmir and are currently based across the border, with seven in PoJK and four in Pakistan.

The seven J&K natives in PoJK have been identified as Masood Ilyas Kashmiri (Rawalkot), Mufti Muhammad Asghar Khan (Abbaspur), Hafiz Abdul Shakoor (Kotli), Abdullah Jehadi (Kundalshahi, Neelum), Ghulam Fareed (Bading, Bimber), Bilal Ahmad Mir of Sopore (Muzaffarabad), and Abid Qayoom Lone of Baramulla.

The four J&K natives in Pakistan are Haroon Rashid Ganai of Anantnag, Nazir Ahmed Gujjar of Doda, Owais Farooz Mir of Pulwama, and Muhammed Shaheed Faisal, originally from Bengaluru, now based in Rawalpindi.

The ministry said 10 of the designated individuals are affiliated with JeM and 13 with LeT, with some also linked to TRF and JuD.

It said the operatives played roles in recruitment, training, infiltration, planning attacks on security forces and civilians, transporting arms and explosives, raising funds and maintaining logistical networks.

The government linked some JeM operatives to incidents including the 2016 Nagrota Army camp attack and the 2022 Sunjwan attack.

Among those designated are Abdul Rauf, Hafiz Khalid Waleed, Maulana Saifullah Khalid, Muhammad Yaqoob, Molana Yousaf Taibi, Qari Yaqub Sheikh, Rana Iftikhar, Waseem Noor Jat, Ashfaq Ahmad, Maulana Imdad Ullah Makki and Muhammad Mussadiq.

In a separate notification, the MHA alleged that Muhammed Shaheed Faisal maintained links with LeT, JeM, Al-Qaeda and ISIS modules and was involved in recruitment, training, fund-raising and facilitating movement of arms and operatives.

The Centre invoked provisions under Section 35 of the UAPA, stating that the individuals were involved in activities prejudicial to the security and sovereignty of India. With these additions, the number of individuals designated as terrorists under the Act has risen to 80.