Srinagar: Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai said on Wednesday that four organizations have been notified as terrorist organizations under the UAPA in 2023 so far and their names have been added in the First Schedule of the Act.
He said that so far 54 terrorists and 44 terrorist organizations have been listed under the Fourth Schedule and the First Schedule of the UAPA respectively till February 2023.
In a written reply to Rajya Sabha, he said that four organizations have been notified as terrorist organizations under the UAPA in the year 2023 so far and their names have been added in the First Schedule of the Act.
These organizations include The Resistance Front (TRF), Peoples Anti-Fascist Front (PAFF), Jammu and Kashmir Ghaznavi Force (JKGF) and Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF). They have been involved in terrorism and have committed and participated in various acts of terrorism in India.
He said that the Resistance Front (TRF is a proxy outfit of the terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba and came into existence in 2019. “It has been involved in the planning of killings of security force personnel and innocent civilians of Jammu and Kashmir, co-ordinating and transporting weapons to support proscribed terrorist organisations, recruitment of terrorists, infiltration of terrorists and smuggling of weapons and narcotics from across the border in major cities in India,” said.
He also said that the terrorist organization Peoples Anti-Fascist Front (PAFF) is a proxy outfit of terrorist organization Jaish-E-Mohammed and came into existence in 2019.
“It has been involved in the radicalization of youth for the purpose of recruitment and training in handling guns, ammunition and explosives, issuing threats to Indian security forces, political leaders and civilians working in Jammu and Kashmir from other parts of the country, conspiring pro-actively physically and in social media to undertake violent terrorist acts in Jammu and Kashmir and other major cities in India,” he said.
“J&K Ghaznavi Force (JKGF) surfaced in 2020 as a terrorist outfit and draws its cadres from various proscribed terrorist organizations, such as Lashkar-E-Taiba, Jaish-E-Mohammed, Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen,Harkat-ul-Jihad-E-Islami, etc,” he said, adding that it has been involved in infiltration bids, narcotics and weapon smuggling and carrying out terror attacks in the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
The minister also said that it has been issuing threats to security forces and inciting people in Jammu and Kashmir to join terrorist outfits against India.
He said Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) came into existence in the year 2011 as an offshoot of Babbar Khalsa International, a proscribed terrorist organization under the UAPA. “It promotes acts of terrorism and its cadres have been receiving financial and logistics support including sophisticated weaponry from their foreign-based handlers and has been found involved in various terrorist cases, including targeted killings,” he said. (KNO)