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India strengthens counter-terror resolve, bans 7 Pak-based terrorists

The designation of seven Pak-based terrorists under the UAPA is to tell the global community and the FATF that the terror factory targeting India is still thriving in Pakistan.

Published on: Apr 20, 2022, 11:54:13 IST
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To strengthen India’s counter-terrorism resolve, the Ministry of Home Affairs under Amit Shah has designated seven Pakistan based terror kingpins in the past fortnight under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for terror funding and strikes in Jammu and Kashmir.

Home Minister Amit Shah chairing a security review meeting in Jammu and Kashmir (File Photo).
Home Minister Amit Shah chairing a security review meeting in Jammu and Kashmir (File Photo).

The seven terrorists banned under the UAPA on the recommendations of CID, J and K Police are all based in Pakistan. They are: Sajjad Gul, Ashiq Ahmed Nengroo, Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar aka Latram, Arjumand Gulzar Jan aka Hamza Burhan, Ali Kashif Jan, Mohiuddin Aurangzeb Alamgir and Hafiz Talha Saeed. A total of 38 Pakistan-based terrorists have been banned under the UAPA by the MHA.

According to top North Block sources, the reason for preparing a database of Pakistan based terrorists operating in the Valley is manifold. First, a ready-made dossier is being prepared on all these terrorists so that India can take up the issue with the UN and relevant countries. Two, associates of these designated terrorists will now feel the heat in the Valley as they would be targeted for supporting Pakistan jihadi groups and hence come under the strict scrutiny of law. Third, the properties acquired by these terrorists and their associates will be seized if they are found linked to terror funding or proceeds of crime.

This morning, Sajjad Gul and Arjumand Gulzar Jan, chief of Al-Badr, which is trying to raise its ugly head in Pulwama, were banned under UAPA.

Srinagar-born Sajjad Gul, 48, was arrested by Delhi police and was sentenced to five years of imprisonment from 2002- 2007. He came back to Srinagar in 2007 and joined the Institute of Charter Finance & Accountancy as branch head at Karan Nagar. He then visited Pakistan in 2011 on passport number J792120 and stayed in Lahore at his wife's relative's house. He came in contact with LeT operatives during his stay in Pakistan.

India designated Nengroo, a commander of banned outfit JeM, as a terrorist for his involvement in various terror incidents in Jammu and Kashmir.

He was instrumental in helping JeM chief Moulana Masood Azhar's nephew Idrees infiltrate J&K via the Samba border. Nengroo, along with his family went missing after NIA summoned him in February 2020. He has been a close confidant of JeM and his activities, according to top security officials, clearly point out his proximity to its chief Masood Azhar.

Officials believe that he has no plans of returning and his aim is to continue to inflict violence on civilians of Jammu and Kashmir to keep the terror running factory up and running.

Zargar is operating as chief of the Al-Umar Mujahidin terrorist outfit from Pakistan. The Srinagar-born terrorist got affiliated with the JKLF outfit and ex-filtrated to PoK for obtaining illegal arms and ammunition training and returned in the year 1989. He remained active with the JKLF outfit up to the year 1991. He was also involved in the abduction of then home minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed's daughter Rubaiyya Sayeed and demanded the government to release terrorists in exchange for Rubiya Sayeed’s release.

 
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Shishir Gupta

Shishir Gupta is Executive Editor at Hindustan Times and one of India's top journalists covering national security, strategic affairs, foreign policy and geopolitics. Over the past three decades, he has extensively reported on India's military, diplomatic and security landscape, covering every major conflict and national security challenge, from the 1999 Kargil War and the 2020 East Ladakh standoff to Operation Sindoor in 2025. He has also covered major terror attacks, including the IC-814 hijacking, the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and the 2025 Pahalgam terror strike, along with numerous Pakistan-backed terrorist incidents in the Kashmir Valley and across India. He has reported on national and state elections for more than three decades. A recognised authority on strategic affairs, Gupta has covered India's nuclear programme since the Pokhran-II (Shakti series) tests in May 1998 and has written extensively on global nuclear issues, Indian diplomacy and the country's expanding global outreach. He has also reported widely on international conflicts and terrorism, with a special focus on the Indian subcontinent. Gupta has interviewed Prime Minister Narendra Modi more than four times, including Modi's first interview with the print media after becoming Prime Minister in May 2014. His other interviews include three with the Dalai Lama, as well as conversations with Benjamin Netanyahu, Amit Shah, Yogi Adityanath, S. Jaishankar, Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal. He is the author of Indian Mujahideen: The Enemy Within (Hachette, 2011) and Himalayan Face-off: Chinese Assertion and Indian Riposte (Hachette, 2014). He was awarded the Chevening-Wolfson Joint Scholarship at Wolfson College, University of Cambridge, UK, in 1998 and participated in the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) of the US State Department in 2006. He received the Ben Gurion Prize from Israel in 2011 and the K. Subrahmanyam Prize for Strategic Studies in 2015 from the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA). Since 2024, he has hosted Point Blank, Hindustan Times' weekly YouTube show on global geopolitics.

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