India designates 23 individuals as terrorists for having links with JeM, LeT

The Indian government has designated 23 individuals as terrorists for having links to terror outfits, including Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba.

According to a gazette notification issued by the Union Home Ministry on Saturday, the designations have been made under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, and the names have been added to its fourth schedule.

Who are the individuals?

Among those whose names have been added to the list is Masood Ilyas Kashmiri. He is a senior JeM functionary and is involved in carrying out a wide range of terrorist activities against the country, including recruiting youth into the terrorist organisation, the notification said. He was also involved in the terrorist attack on security forces in Sunjwan, Jammu, in April 2024.

More from India

Other names include Mohammad Mussadiq, Mufti Muhammad Asghar Khan, Hafiz Abdul Shakoor, Abdullah Jehadi, Firdous Ahmad Bhat and Ghulam Fareed. Mussadiq is one of the main handlers of the Jaish-e-Mohammed infiltration of Pakistani terrorists into Jammu and Kashmir.

Meanwhile, Khan was one of the masterminds of the attack on the Indian Army Camp at Nagrota, Jammu, by the terrorists of Jaish-e-Mohammad in 2016. Bhat has been publicly described as a Lashkar-e-Taiba launching commander involved in infiltration and logistics.

India-Pak prisoner swap

The development comes days after India and Pakistan exchanged lists of civil prisoners and fishermen in each other’s custody through diplomatic channels simultaneously in New Delhi and Islamabad, in accordance with the 2008 Agreement on Consular Access.

Under the agreement, the two countries exchange such lists twice a year, on January 1 and July 1.

According to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), India shared lists of 386 civil prisoners and 53 fishermen in its custody who are Pakistani nationals or believed to be Pakistani. Pakistan, in turn, shared lists of 52 civil prisoners and 198 fishermen in its custody who are Indian nationals or believed to be Indian.