Centre designates 23 individuals as terrorists. List includes 17 Pakistanis, 6 Indians

Sharing the announcement on X, Union Home Minister Amit Shah stated: "Pursuing Modi Ji's vision of zero tolerance against terror, the MHA today declared 23 dreaded terror functionaries as terrorists under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act."

The designated individuals are deeply entrenched in anti-India operations, including executing and inciting terror attacks, weapons trafficking, border infiltration, terror financing, and cross-border recruitment.

Key Highlights of the MHA Declaration

Demographics: Out of the 23 designated terrorists, 17 are Pakistani nationals and 6 are Indian nationals.

Base of Operations: All 23 individuals currently operate out of Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK).

Strategic Impact: The Home Ministry emphasized that this formal designation will dismantle the terror ecosystem by choking financial networks, restricting movement, halting recruitment capabilities, and enhancing the capacity of security agencies to launch coordinated legal and investigative actions globally.

Profiles of the 23 Designated Terrorists

Masood Ilyas Kashmiri (alias Mufti Masood Ilyas)

Nationality: Pakistani | Affiliation: Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM)

Role & Activities: A close confidant of Maulana Masood Azhar and a primary coordinator for cross-border infiltration into Kashmir. He leverages social media to radicalize and recruit youth while managing terror funding campaigns. He orchestrated the April 2022 attack on a police checkpoint near the PDP office in Sunjwan, Jammu.

Mohammad Musaddiq (alias Doctor / Abdul Mannan / Hamza)

Nationality: Pakistani | Affiliation: Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM)

Role & Activities: Serves as the launching commander for the Lasiyakot sector, facilitating border infiltration via underground tunnels. He manages drone-based arms smuggling into India and has conducted hostile reconnaissance of high-profile targets, including the Ram Janmabhoomi (RJB) complex in Ayodhya, the RSS headquarters in Nagpur, and the IOCL refinery in Panipat.

Mufti Mohammad Asghar Khan (alias Abu Saad)

Nationality: Pakistani | Affiliation: Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM)

Role & Activities: The JeM Amir (chief) and commander of its military wing in PoK. Operating out of training camps in Muzaffarabad, he provides jihadist and tactical military training to recruits. He was a key mastermind behind the terror attack on the Indian Army camp in Nagrota, Jammu.

Hafiz Abdul Shakoor (alias Qari Jarrar)

Nationality: Pakistani | Affiliation: Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) / Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM)

Role & Activities: A member of JeM’s governing council (Shura) and a veteran of the 1995–96 Afghan war. Operating closely with Pakistan's ISI, he facilitated the infiltration of three Pakistani terrorists through the Samba-Kathua sector to execute the Nagrota Army camp attack.

Abdullah Jihadi (alias Shahnawaz / Al-Hijama)

Nationality: Pakistani | Affiliation: Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM)

Role & Activities: A co-conspirator of Mufti Asgar Khan, he managed key launchpads in Kupwara and Baramulla to infiltrate terrorists into North Kashmir. He is heavily involved in regional propaganda campaigns to incite disaffection against the Government of India.

Firdous Ahmad Bhat

Nationality: Indian (Residing in Pakistan) | Affiliation: Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)

Role & Activities: Crossed into Pakistan via the Wagah border in 2018 using valid travel documents. Now serving as an LeT launch commander, he orchestrates safe passage for foreign terrorists across the Line of Control (LoC), coordinates weapon supplies to Over Ground Workers (OGWs), and drives radicalization efforts in South Kashmir.

Ghulam Farid (alias Gulshan Kumar)

Nationality: Pakistani | Affiliation: Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM)

Role & Activities: A former Pakistan Army soldier (2001–2005) who infiltrated India illegally via Bangladesh in September 2008. He was arrested in Jammu in December 2008, incarcerated, and subsequently deported back to Pakistan in July 2019, where he resumed terror activities.

Haroon Rashid Ganai (alias Shunu)

Nationality: Indian (Residing in Pakistan) | Affiliation: Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)

Role & Activities: Traveled to Pakistan on valid documents in March 2018 before joining LeT. Operating from Pakistani soil, he incites Kashmiri youth to join terror modules and channels arms and ammunition to domestic OGW networks.

Bilal Ahmed Mir (alias Ahmed Bhai)

Nationality: Indian (Residing in Muzaffarabad, PoK) | Affiliation: LeT / The Resistance Front (TRF)

Role & Activities: Orchestrates online and operational logistics from PoK to instigate local Kashmiri youth into launching insurgent activities. He directly commands the illicit supply chain moving weapons, ammunition, and logistical support into the Kashmir Valley.

Abid Qayoom Lone

Nationality: Indian (Residing in PoK) | Affiliation: Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)

Role & Activities: Exited India via the Attari check-post in 2020 and permanently embedded himself with LeT in PoK. He plans tactical strikes against Indian security forces, manages LeT fundraising, and runs an organized cross-LoC narcotics smuggling syndicate to finance terror operations.

Nazir Ahmed Gujjar (alias Abu Manazil)

Nationality: Indian (Residing in Islamabad, Pakistan) | Affiliation: Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)

Role & Activities: Exfiltrated across the LoC in 2006. He drives recruitment drives aimed at reviving defunct terror cells in the Doda and Kishtwar regions. He serves as a central coordinator for drone-based arms drops across the Samba and R.S. Pura sectors.

Abdul Rauf (alias Hafiz Abdul Rauf)

Nationality: Pakistani | Affiliation: LeT / Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) / Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF)

Role & Activities: A veteran LeT leader since 1999 operating under the direct command of Hafiz Saeed. He manages global fund mobilization and public relations campaigns for LeT using front charity organizations like FIF and the Al-Madina Welfare Trust. He is designated as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) by the United States.

Ashfaq Ahmed (alias Ishfaq Ahmed)

Nationality: Pakistani | Affiliation: Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM)

Role & Activities: Joined JeM in 2000 and currently heads the Shuaba Hadith and the Al-Rehmat Trust (JeM’s charity front) in Bahawalpur. Investigative data tied his Pakistani mobile network subscriptions directly to the communications used during the January 2016 Pathankot Air Force Station attack.

Hafiz Khalid Waleed

Nationality: Pakistani | Affiliation: Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) / Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD)

Role & Activities: Son-in-law of LeT chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed and a member of the Central Advisory Committee since 2003. He was the primary mastermind behind the June 2016 Pampore attack that claimed the lives of eight CRPF personnel. He was designated as a global terrorist by the US Department of the Treasury in August 2012.

Maulana Imdad Ullah Makki (alias Imdad Bhai)

Nationality: Pakistani | Affiliation: Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM)

Role & Activities: Serves as the Amir of Jaish’s prisoners' wing (Shoba-e-Aseeran) and manages the group's legal affairs. A top-tier associate of Maulana Masood Azhar and Mufti Abdul Rauf Asghar, he provided real-time tactical coordination to the hit squad during the 2016 Pathankot airbase attack.

Maulana Saifullah Khalid (alias Waliul)

Nationality: Pakistani | Affiliation: LeT / Pakistan Markazi Muslim League (PMML)

Role & Activities: General Secretary of the PMML and former President of the Milli Muslim League (MML). He has commanded multiple specialized LeT/JuD branches, including their propaganda, control, and reform wings. The United States designated him an SDGT in April 2018.

Mohammad Yaqoob (alias Abu Sumama)

Nationality: Pakistani | Affiliation: Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)

Role & Activities: An LeT operational commander operating out of Islamabad. He manages financial pipelines and logistical supply networks feeding active terror cadres inside the Kashmir Valley. He faces active UAPA charges filed at the CI Kashmir Police Station in Srinagar.

Maulana Yusuf Taibi (alias Mohammad Yusuf)

Nationality: Pakistani | Affiliation: LeT / Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD)

Role & Activities: A senior leadership figure within the control and reform wing (Dawat-o-Islah). He previously directed the Karachi-based Jamia Al-Dirasat Al-Islamia Trust (a known LeT front) and currently runs operations at the Al-Qadsia Islamic Center in Lahore.

Owais Farooz (alias Owais Ahmed Mir)

Nationality: Indian (Residing in Pakistan) | Affiliation: Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)

Role & Activities: Fled to Pakistan via the Wagah border in April 2018 on an Indian passport to join LeT. His brother was arrested by Srinagar Police in January 2023 carrying commercial quantities of heroin alongside official LeT letterheads. The NIA Court in Pulwama has issued a formal CrPC Section 82 proclamation order against him.

Qari Yaqub Sheikh (alias Qari Mohammad Yaqub Sheikh)

Nationality: Pakistani | Affiliation: PMML / Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD)

Role & Activities: A core leader of JuD’s proselytization (Dawati) team who openly contested the 2018 Pakistani general elections under the MML banner. He runs extensive international terror finance operations, primarily targeting networks in Saudi Arabia. He was designated a global terrorist by the United States in August 2012.

Rana Iftikhar (alias Rana Waleed Atif / Haider Khan)

Nationality: Pakistani | Affiliation: LeT / Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD)

Role & Activities: A high-level associate of Hafiz Saeed who commands the financial machinery funding LeT’s Kashmir operations. He leads the Shoba-e-Aseeran wing, which sustains the families of killed or captured terrorists. He was previously incarcerated in India from 1993 (following a firefight in Mendhar) until his release and deportation in 2004.

Wasim Noor Jat (alias Qari Wasim)

Nationality: Pakistani | Affiliation: Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM)

Role & Activities: A JeM launching commander heading operations in the Kotli sector. He specialized in coordinating drone drops of automated weapons and military logistics into Indian territory during 2021–22. He was previously imprisoned at Kot Bhalwal Central Jail in Jammu (2012–2015) before being deported.

Mohammad Shahid Faisal (alias Ustad / Muhandis / Zakir)

Nationality: Pakistani (Originally Indian, currently active in Rawalpindi) | Affiliation: LeT / Al-Qaeda / ISIS

Role & Activities: The overarching operational handler behind multiple domestic terror plots, including the 2012 Bengaluru LeT conspiracy case, the 2013 Nanded LeT case, the 2024 Rameshwaram Cafe blast, the Mangaluru cooker blast, and the Al-Hind ISIS module. He fled to Pakistan in 2013 via logistical help from Farhatullah Ghori. He uses localized digital channels (such as 'Sawat-al-Haq' on Telegram and YouTube) to radicalize and recruit Indian youth into global jihadist movements.