As part of its ‘Prahaar’ counter-terrorism policy, the Union home ministry recently slapped the ‘terrorist’ tag on 23 more Pakistan and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK)-based functionaries of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), raising the total number of designated terrorists under Schedule 4 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) to 80. Of these, 17 are Pakistani terrorists and six are Indian nationals carrying out terrorist activities from Pakistan and POK.

Designating them as ‘individual terrorists’ under Schedule 4 of the UAPA will enable the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to list a person as terrorist if he is suspected of involvement in terrorism, without requiring him to be affiliated with a terrorist organisation. Inclusion of the names of terrorists in the list will allow the NIA to block their finances, embargo arms sales, and seize their assets. In 2019, the UAPA was amended to include individual terrorists in the list, as previously only groups could be listed as terrorist organisations.

As per dossiers prepared by intelligence agencies, the 23 terrorists were linked to attacks on security forces at Pathankot (2016), Pampore (2016), Nagrota (2016), and Sunjwan (2022), besides terror strikes on mainland India such as Rameshwaram Café (2024) and Mangalore. Some of them were linked to conducting recce of sites like the Ram Mandir complex (Ayodhya) and RSS headquarters (Nagpur).

One of the six Indians, Mohammed Shahid Faisal, alias Zakir Ustad, is a 42-year-old computer science engineering graduate from Bengaluru. He is currently based in Rawalpindi and is affiliated with LeT, al Qaeda and Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). He is an online handler of terror incidents in south India recruiting youth via social media. He went missing as a 28-year-old in the wake of an alleged LeT-linked terror plot in 2012.

In a post on X, Union home minister Amit Shah wrote, ‘Pursuing PM Shri Narendra Modi Ji’s vision of zero tolerance against terror, the MHA declared 23 dreaded terror functionaries affiliated with banned organisations as terrorists under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. 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, 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.’ Thirteen of them belong to Lahore-based LeT and the rest to the Bahawalpur-based JeM.