NEW DELHI, Jul 4: The Union Home Ministry on Saturday designated 23 Pakistan-based individuals as terrorists under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), significantly expanding India’s list of notified individual terrorists and intensifying the legal crackdown on cross-border terror operatives accused of orchestrating violence in Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere.
With the latest additions, the total number of individuals designated as terrorists under the anti-terror law has risen to 80, according to an official government order. The newly notified names are linked to banned outfits such as Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and other extremist organisations, and include several operatives allegedly involved in planning, facilitating or supporting attacks against Indian security forces and civilians.
The Home Ministry’s action has been taken under the provisions of the UAPA, which empowers the central government to notify an individual as a designated terrorist if it has reason to believe that the person is involved in terrorism. The move enables investigative and enforcement agencies to tighten the legal net around such operatives by freezing financial channels, restricting arms-related transactions, and initiating proceedings for attachment or seizure of assets linked to them.
The current framework for designating individuals as terrorists was enabled after Parliament amended the UAPA in 2019. Before that amendment, the law allowed only organisations to be listed as terrorist entities. The revised law broadened the government’s powers by permitting it to identify and notify individual terrorists as well, thereby allowing action not only against organisations but also against key handlers, recruiters, propagandists and planners operating from outside India.
Officials said the latest designations are aimed at targeting the ecosystem of Pakistan-based operatives who have continued to support militant activities in Jammu and Kashmir through recruitment, funding, training, propaganda and logistical assistance. Security agencies believe that many of these individuals play critical roles in sustaining cross-border terror infrastructure, even if they are not physically present in India.
Among those named in the latest notification are several operatives linked to Jaish-e-Mohammad. The list includes Masood Ilyas Kashmiri, Mohammad Mussadiq alias Doctor, Mufti Muhammad Asghar Khan alias Abu Saad, Hafiz Abdul Shakoor alias Qari Zarrar, Abdullah Jehadi, Ghulam Fareed, Maulana Imdad Ullah Makki and Waseem Noor Jat.
The Home Ministry has also designated a large set of operatives associated with Lashkar-e-Taiba and allied terror structures. These include Firdous Ahmad Bhat, Haroon Rashid Ganai, Bilal Ahmad Mir, Abid Qayoom Lone, Nazir Ahmed Gujjar, Abdul Rauf alias Hafiz Abdul Rauf, Ashfaq Ahmad, Hafiz Khalid Waleed, Maulana Saifullah Khalid, Mohammad Yaqoob, Molana Yousaf Taibi, Owais Farooz, Qari Yaqub Sheikh and Rana Iftikhar.
Another notable name added to the list is Mohammed Shaheed Faisal, who, according to the notification, is also linked to Al Qaeda and the Islamic State (ISIS), indicating the broader concern of Indian agencies over overlapping extremist networks and the possibility of operatives maintaining ties with multiple transnational jihadist groups.
The latest notification reflects the government’s continuing strategy of using legal and financial tools alongside security operations to dismantle militant networks. By formally designating an individual as a terrorist, the government creates a stronger basis for coordinated action by agencies such as the National Investigation Agency (NIA), intelligence units and enforcement bodies. Such designation can support the blocking of bank accounts, scrutiny of money trails, curbs on material support and action against any local facilitators or front entities suspected of aiding the listed persons.
Officials familiar with anti-terror operations say the designation process is also significant from an international diplomacy and compliance perspective. Once an individual is notified under domestic anti-terror law, India can more forcefully pursue intelligence-sharing, sanctions-related coordination and evidence-based engagement with foreign governments and multilateral platforms regarding terror financing and extremist linkages.
The decision comes against the backdrop of sustained security concerns in Jammu and Kashmir, where agencies have repeatedly flagged the role of Pakistan-based handlers in radicalisation, infiltration attempts, recruitment of local youth and the use of digital channels to direct or inspire attacks. While the security situation in the Union Territory has seen phases of improvement, officials maintain that cross-border terror networks continue to adapt, often using overground workers, encrypted communication and hybrid militant models to sustain violence.
The inclusion of these 23 names is therefore being viewed not merely as a symbolic legal move but as part of a broader security architecture that seeks to weaken militant ecosystems by targeting their leadership and support structures beyond the battlefield. It also reinforces the government’s position that individuals directing or facilitating terrorism from foreign soil will be specifically identified and pursued through every available legal instrument.
Since the 2019 amendment to the UAPA, the Centre has increasingly used the designated-terrorist provision to identify key individuals linked to extremist violence. The government has argued that the earlier legal framework was incomplete because it allowed organisations to be banned while leaving their principal operatives outside the formal notified list. By naming individuals, authorities say, the law now better reflects the reality of terror networks, where attacks are often driven by shadowy handlers, ideologues and financiers rather than only by identifiable organisations.
The latest additions are expected to be followed by further intelligence-led scrutiny of their financial channels, communications networks and operational associates. Investigators are likely to examine whether any of the designated individuals have links to recruitment cells, propaganda operations, hawala routes or local support networks inside India.
With the total number of designated individual terrorists under the UAPA now standing at 80, the Home Ministry’s latest move marks another significant step in the government’s counter-terror policy. It signals a continued focus on identifying Pakistan-based operatives accused of fuelling militancy in Jammu and Kashmir and underscores New Delhi’s resolve to use the full scope of the law to isolate, expose and disrupt terror networks targeting India.