India Declares Khalistan Tiger Force, Jammu and Kashmir Ghaznavi Force as Terrorist Organisations

New Delhi: India on Friday declared yet one more particular person Harwinder Singh Sandhu alias Rinda as a terrorist and two organizations — Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) and Jammu and Kashmir Ghaznavi Force (JKGF)– as terrorist organizations. Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) beneath the steering of Union Home Minister Amit Shah took the choice reinforcing the dedication of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to strengthen nationwide safety and fight terrorism in all its types and manifestations.

Sandhu has been related to the terrorist group Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) and is presently primarily based in Lahore, Pakistan beneath the patronage of cross-border companies and has been discovered concerned in varied terrorist actions, notably in Punjab. With this declaration, now there are 54 designated terrorists within the IVth Schedule of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).KTF is a militant outfit it goals to revive terrorism in Punjab and challenges the territorial integrity, unity, nationwide safety, and sovereignty of India, and promotes varied acts of terrorism, together with focused killings in Punjab.

However, JKGF has been discovered concerned in infiltration bids, narcotics and weapon smuggling and finishing up terror assaults within the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It attracts its cadres from varied terrorist organizations, such as Lashker-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen, and Harkat-ul–Jehad-E-Islami. With the declaration of those two organisations as terrorist organizations, there are actually a complete of 44 designated terrorist organizations beneath the Ist Schedule of the Act.

In furtherance of India`s `Zero Tolerance coverage` in direction of terrorism, the Central Government amended the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in August 2019 to incorporate the availability of designating a person as a terrorist. Prior to this modification, solely organizations may very well be designated as terrorist organizations.By invoking the amended provision, the Central Government had designated 53 people as terrorists.