The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has designated Hafiz Talha Saeed, son of the chief of Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, as a “terrorist “ under the Unlawful (Activities) Prevention Act (UAPA). So far, there are a total of 32 designated terrorists in the country.
The LeT chief was the first among four to be designated as a terrorist under the amended UAPA law in 2019.
The 1967 Act, amended in 2019 empowered MHA to designate individuals as terrorists, earlier this provision was applicable only to terror organisations or groups but not individuals.
In a gazette notification on April 8, MHA said “Hafiz Talha Saeed has been actively involved in recruitment, fund collection, planning and executing attacks by LeT in India and Indian interests in Afghanistan” and he has been “actively visiting various LeT centres across Pakistan and during his sermons propagating for jihad against India, Israel, United States of America and against Indian interests in other western countries.”
The notification said that Talha Saeed, born on October 25, 1975, is a resident of Lahore, Pakistan, is a senior leader of LeT and the head of the cleric wing of the banned terror outfit.
The notification added that UAPA has been enacted to provide for more effective prevention of certain unlawful activities of associations and individuals and for dealing with terrorist activities and Clause (a) of sub-section (1) of section 35 of the said Act empowers the Central Government to notify the name of an individual in the Fourth Schedule to the said Act, if it believes that he is involved in terrorism.
The notification said that LeT is listed as a terrorist organisation under the First Schedule to the said Act at serial number 5 and the “Central Government believes that Hafiz Talha Saeed is involved in terrorism and Hafiz Talha Saeed should be notified as a terrorist under the said Act.”
Hafiz Saeed was designated as an individual terrorist for involvement in four cases: Red Fort attack (2000), Rampur attack (2008), 26/11 Mumbai attack (2008) and attack on BSF convoy at Udhampur in Jammu & Kashmir (2015).
