Twelve years after the 26/11 attack, Pakistan has placed 19 members of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in a list of the “Most Wanted Terrorists” for their role in the heinous assault, but it has not initiated any serious efforts to nab them and also punish seven others who are facing trial in Pakistan. The security agencies here are clueless about the whereabouts of these 19 most wanted terrorists. Some of them have been hiding in Pakistan and others are believed to have fled the country. These terrorists were either crew members of the boats used by the attackers or financiers of the 26/11 attack. The 26/11 case has been pending in the anti-terrorism courts of Rawalpindi/Islamabad since 2009.
The move to place 19 LeT terrorists in the list apparently came following the Paris-based global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog, Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) decision to retain Pakistan on its grey list till February 2021.
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Making the information about the 19 most wanted LeTterrorists public for the first time, the FIA says Amjad Khan of Multan was a crew member of LeT for the 26/11 attack (boat Al-Hussaini and boat Al-Fauz).
The FATF made the decision after Islamabad failed to fulfill its six key obligations, including failure to take action against two of India’s most wanted terrorists – Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed and Jaish-e-Mohammed head Masood Azhar.
The security agencies have prepared a list of over 1,200 most wanted/high profile terrorists in Pakistan to enable more coordination among authorities to go after them.
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Pakistan’s top investigating agency, has been probing the Mumbai terror attack case since 2009 and is looking for the 19 “most wanted terrorists” involved in the deadly terror assault that sent shockwaves across the country and even brought India and Pakistan to the brink of a war.
In November 2008, 10 LeT terrorists sailed into Mumbai from Karachi and carried out coordinated attacks, killing 166 people and injuring over 300. Nine of the attackers were killed by police while lone survivor Ajmal Kasab was caught and hanged after trial in India. Its mastermind Hafiz Saeed, Lashkar-e-Taiba founder and a UN-designated terrorist whom the US has placed a $10 million bounty on, was arrested on 17 July 2019 is in jail in Lahore, serving a collective over 21-year sentence under terror financing charges. He is not being held in prison but at his Johar Town house in Lahore from where he runs the terror group, according to information available with Indian intelligence agencies.
Saeed-led JuD is the front organisation for the LeT. The LeT operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi has been operating with impunity in the country after securing bail in the Mumbai terror attack case over five years ago.
The other six accused – Abdul Wajid, Mazhar Iqbal, Hamad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jamil Riaz, Jamil Ahmed and Younis Anjum – who are facing charges of abetment to murder, attempted murder, planning and executing the Mumbai attack, are lodged at the high-security Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi.
The Pakistan government says it has recently introduced a number of fresh legislations to enable security forces to confront terrorist groups more effectively.
The FIA claims that the proceedings have come to halt after India refused to send its 24 witnesses to Pakistan for recording of their statements and other evidence.
Designated Terrorists Under UAPA
The government, on 27 October, declared 18 more Pakistan-based individuals as designated terrorists under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), 1967, for their involvement in the acts of terrorism on the Indian soil at different periods of time.
The list included the name of Sajid Mir, who was one of the main players in the Mumbai 26/11 attack, and has been described as a Pakistan based LeT’s top commander.
The other prominent names among those designated as terrorists include India’s most wanted terrorist Dawood Ibrahim’s right-hand man, Chhota Shakeel, and the Bhatkal brothers of the Indian Mujahideen.
FATF Mandate
Pakistan’s failure to fulfil six key obligations of the FATF, including action against two of India’s most wanted terrorists Maulana Masood Azhar and Hafiz Saeed, and the sudden disappearance of more than 4,000 terrorists from its official list led to its continuation in the “grey list” of the global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog. The virtual plenary of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), held on 21-23 October, took the final call on Pakistan’s continuation on its grey list after a thorough review of Islamabad’s performance in fulfilling the global commitments and standards in the fight against money laundering and terror financing.
The FATF had given Pakistan a total of 27 action plan obligations for completely checking terror financing of which so far it has cleared 21, but has failed in some of the key tasks. The FATF had issued the action plan after placing Pakistan on the grey list in June 2018. In February, the FATF gave Pakistan a four-month grace period to complete the 27-point plan. It extended the deadline by three months due to the postponement of its plenary following the Covid outbreak.
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The decision was announced by FATF president Marcus Pleyer after the virtual plenary session. “To date, Pakistan has made progress across all action plan items and has now largely addressed 21 of the 27 action items. As all action plan deadlines have expired, the FATF strongly urges Pakistan to swiftly complete its full action plan by February 2021,” the FATF said in a statement.
Pakistan also needs to work on four areas to “address its strategic deficiencies”, it said. Listing the deficiencies, the FATF said that Pakistan needs to:
• “Demonstrate that law enforcement agencies are identifying and investigating the widest range of terror financing activity which target designated persons and entities, and those who act on the behalf/direction of the designated persons or entities”.
• “Demonstrate that terror financing prosecutions result in effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions”.
• “Demonstrate effective implementation of targeted financial sanctions against all…designated terrorists and those acting for or on their behalf; preventing the raising and moving of funds including in relation to non-profit organisations; identifying and freezing assets; and prohibiting access to funds and financial services”.
• “Demonstrate enforcement against violation of terror financing sanctions…of administrative and criminal penalties and provincial and federal authorities cooperating on enforcement cases”.
The mandates which Pakistan failed included action against all UN-designated terrorists like JeM chief Azhar, LeT founder Seed and the outfit’s operational commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi.
Besides, the FATF strongly noted the fact that there was sudden disappearance of the names of more than 4,000 terrorists from its original list of 7,600 under Schedule IV of its Anti-Terrorism Act.
The four nominating countries – the US, Britain, France and Germany – are also not satisfied with Islamabad’s commitment to taking strong action against the terror groups operating from its soil.
Azhar, Saeed and Lakhvi are most wanted terrorists in India for their involvement in terrorist acts, including the 26/11 Mumbai terror strikes and the bombing of a CRPF bus at Pulwama last year.
In August, Pakistan imposed financial sanctions on 88 banned terror groups and their leaders, including 26/11 Mumbai attack mastermind and Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed, Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar and underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.
Balakot Terror Camps Reactivated
Even after India’s surgical airstrikes in Bakalot on terror camps in 2019, Pakistan’s notorious spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has resumed training of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terrorists in the area with the aim to launch attacks on Indian soil.
A newly made control room has also been found functional in Balakot camp. The control room is used by JeM and other terror groups to help in the infiltration of terrorists inside India. After crossing the LoC, the handlers of these terrorists constantly instruct them through code words from Pakistan.
MFN Status
India revoked Pakistan’s ‘Most Favoured Nation’ status only after the Pulwama terrorist attack in 2019, by invoking Article 21 of the WTO, which deals with security exceptions, the Domestic Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act that allows it to impose any import restriction. India had granted the MFN status providing non-discriminatory access to its domestic market to Pakistan in 1996 as under the WTO norms, member countries are mandated to give this status to each other on a reciprocal basis. Pakistan, however, never accorded the MFN status to India.
State Sponsor of Terrorism
In the 17th Lok Sabha session, on 19 November 2016, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, an Independent Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament, introduced a Private Members’ Bill to declare Pakistan as a State Sponsor of Terrorism. He had promised that after the 18 September 2016 Uri attack. The bill besides officially seeking to declare Pakistan as a hostile, enemy state, also provided for imposing legal, economic and travel sanctions on citizens of the neighbouring country.
Since 1994, when Parliament passed a resolution against Pakistan, it had never passed any resolution against it. Curiously, the Bill didn’t receive an enthusiastic response on the floor of Parliament either. Just four months later, on 10 March 2017, Rajeev Chandrasekhar withdrew his Bill.
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Terrorists Notified Under UAPA on 27 October 2020
Sajid Mir with various aliases is the top LeT commander and was one of the main planners of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack.
Yusuf Muzammil with various aliases is the commander of LeT operations in Jammu & Kashmir and accused in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack.
Abdur Rehman with various aliases is the brother-in-law of Hafiz Saeed – the chief LeT commander and head of LeT political affairs – and served as the head of LeT’s foreign relations department.
Shahid Mehmood, alias Shahid Mehmood Rehmatullah, is the deputy chief of proscribed organisation Falah-i-lnsaniyat Foundation (FIF), a frontal organisation of terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
Farhatullah Ghori, with various aliases, was involved in the attack on Akshardham Temple (2002) and suicide attack on the Task Force office in Hyderabad (2005).
Abdul Rauf Asghar, with various aliases, was involved in setting up of training camps in Pakistan for recruitment and militant training and was the key conspirator in the terrorist attack (December 13, 2001) on the Indian Parliament House, New Delhi.
Ibrahim Athar, with various aliases, was involved in the hijacking of the Indian Airlines flight no. lC-814 on December 24, 1999, (Kandhar hijacking case) and was also the key conspirator in the Indian Parliament terrorist attack (December 13, 2001).
Yusuf Azhar, with various aliases, was involved in the hijacking of the Indian Airlines flight no. lC-814 on December 24, 1999 (Kandhar hijacking case).
Shahid Latif, with various aliases, is the JeM’s commander of the Sialkot sector and was involved in the launching of JeM terrorists into India. He is also involved in planning, facilitation and execution of terror attacks in India.
Syed Mohammad Yusuf Shah, with various aliases, is the supreme commander of the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) and the chairman of the United Jihad Council (UJC). He was involved in fundraising and routing finances to India for the furtherance of terrorist activities by the HM cadres.
Ghulam Nabi Khan, with various aliases, is the deputy supreme of the Hizb-ul Mujahideen (HM).
Zaffar Hussain Bhat, with various aliases, is the deputy chief of the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen and also handles financial affairs of the terrorist organisation. He was responsible for sending funds for the HM operatives in Kashmir Valley.
Riyaz Ismail Shahbandri, with various aliases, is the founder member of terrorist organisation Indian Mujahideen. He was involved in various terrorist acts in India, including German Bakery (2010), Chinnaswami Stadium, Bangalore (2010), Jama Masjid (2010), Sheetlaghat (2010) and Mumbai (2011).
Mohd Iqbal, with various aliases, is the Pakistan based co-founder of the terrorist organisation Indian Mujahideen. He was involved in terror financing and various terrorist acts, including Jaipur serial blasts (2008), Delhi serial blasts (2008), serial blasts of Ahmedabad and Surat (2008), German bakery blast, Pune (2010) and Chinnaswami Stadium, Bengaluru blasts (2010).
Shaikh Shakeel, alaisChhota Shakeel, is the associate of Dawood Ibrahim and looks after all criminal and underworld operations of the D-Company. He also handles the finances of the D-Company operatives of India. He was involved in the smuggling of firearms to Gujarat during 1993.
Mohammad Anis Shaikh was involved in the Bombay bomb blast 1993 and is also responsible for the supply of arms, ammunition and hand grenades.
Ibrahim Memon, alias Tiger Memon, and other names, hatched the criminal conspiracy of the Bombay bomb blast.
JavedChikna, alaisJaved Dawood Tailor, is the associate of Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar and was involved in the Bombay bomb blast of 1993.
