The terrorists are Syed Noor Shalobar, Syed Khalid Raza, Aijaz Ahmad Ahanger alias Abu Usman Al-Kashmiri and Bashir Ahmad Peer alias Imtiyaz Alam. While Syed Noor Shalobar was killed yesterday in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa area by unknown gunmen. Shalobar was responsible for spreading terrorism in Kashmir and was reportedly working closely with Pakistan Army and ISI. He was also responsible for terror recruitment from Kashmir valley. 

On 27 February, another terror commander Syed Khalid Raza was killed in Karachi in Pakistan. Unidentified assailants opened fire on him. According to reports, Khalid was associated with terrorists operating in Kashmir. The Sindhudesh Revolutionary Army (SRA) has claimed responsibility for the killing of Khalid Raza. 

In February, Bashir Ahmad Peer alias Imtiyaz Alam was killed by unknown gunmen in Pakistan. Peer was involved in several online activities to unite former terrorists to help organizations like Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Taiba. He was declared a terrorist on October 4 last year for his involvement in terrorist activities. In first week March, NIA has also attached his properties located in Kashmir. 

Another Kashmiri militant said to be linked with Islamic State Aijaz Ahmad Ahangar was killed in Kabul last week. Ahangar was a top IS commander and is said to be killed in the Kunar district of Afghanistan. 

According to reports, the ISI and the Pakistan Army have beefed up the security of terror commanders after the killings. These terrorists were responsible for carrying out terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir.

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Azhar was involved in the planning and execution of several terror attacks, including the hijacking of Indian Airlines flight IC-814 (1999), attack on Parliament (2001), and attack on the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot (2016).

China sought to defend its move. “We need more time to assess the application to sanction this individual,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a media briefing in Beijing while replying to a question. Wang said the 1267 Committee of the UNSC has clear provisions about designating terrorist organisations and officials.

This is not the first time that China has obstructed the listing of terrorists in the 1267 Sanctions Committee. In June this year, China placed on hold a joint proposal by India and the US to list the deputy chief of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), Abdul Rehman Makki, in the sanctions list. Makki was involved in raising funds, recruiting and radicalising youths to resort to violence and planning attacks in India, including the Mumbai terror attacks (2008), according to sources.

Terror tag against Sajid Mir also blocked

Agian on 17 September, China supported Pakistan by blocking a joint proposal moved by US and India to designate Muridke based Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT)’s chief architect of 2008 Mumbai attacks Sajid Mir as specially designated global terrorist by the 1267 Al Qaida Sanctions committee of the UN Security Council.

This was the third proposal that has was put on hold by China after LeT’s top leader Abdul Rehman Makki, brother-in-law of designated terrorist Hafiz Saeed, and Jaish-e-Mohammed’s operational terror commander Mufti Rauf Azhar, younger brother of Masood Azhar.

Sajjd Mir was the key handler of the ten LeT terrorists who wreaked mayhem in Mumbai on November 26, 2008, in which over 166 Indian and foreigners including US nationals were gunned down. The 26/11 operation was a joint venture between Pakistani ISI and LeT and was controlled from Karachi. Mir was convicted by the Pakistani court in June 2022 for 15 years after Islamabad had declared the terrorist dead for many years.

The conviction was clearly done to seek brownie points with the FATF so that Pakistan is removed from the under watch “Grey List” of the global terror finance tracking watchdog. Since 2008, Mir was under protective custody of Pakistani deep state and was handling recruitment for the proscribed LeT. Intelligence inputs suggest that Mir had undergone facial surgery and was living on the outskirts of Islamabad.

Mir had joined the terror group after a career in Pakistan Army. During his stint in the army, he trained terrorists, expanded Lashkar’s reach across at least three continents, and plotted terror attacks in countries like Australia, Virginia in the United States and France.

Willi Brigitte, the French former naval cadet who joined terror ranks, revealed in an interrogation that Mir had ties to al Qaeda in Afghanistan and had direct access to Lashkar’s military chief Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi. The Lashkar terrorist was handling the terror group’s overseas operatives and coordinated with the foreign recruits at the LeT headqua<

According to intelligence officials, Mir had passed himself off as a cricket fan to enter India in April 2005 and conducted reconnaissance of the Indian Military Academy at Dehradun and the National Defence College.

The US intelligence agencies later figured that it was Mir who ordered the Lashkar terrorists to take the head shot at the Holtzberg couple at Chabad House in Mumbai during the massacre.

Abdul Rehman Makki Case

A joint proposal by India and the US to list Pakistan-based terrorist Abdul Rehman Makki as a “global terrorist” was blocked by China in June 2022.

In November 2010, the US Department of the Treasury designated Makki as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. As a result of this designation, among other consequences, all property, and interests in property, of Makki that are subject to US jurisdiction are blocked, and US persons are generally prohibited from engaging in any transactions with Makki.

The US Department of State’s Rewards for Justice programme is offering a reward of up to USD 2 million for information on Makki, “also known as Abdulrahman Maki”.

Makki has occupied various leadership roles within Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a US-designated Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO). He has also played a role in raising funds for LeT operations.

“In 2020, a Pakistani anti-terrorism court convicted Makki on one count of terrorism financing and sentenced him to prison. The United States continues to seek information on Makki because the Pakistani judicial system has released convicted LeT leaders and operatives in the past,” according to information on the Rewards for Justice website.

Masood Azhar Case

In May 2019, India had won a huge diplomatic win at the UN when the global body designated Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a “global terrorist”, a decade after New Delhi had first approached the world body on the issue.

A veto-wielding permanent member of the UN Security Council, China was the sole hold-out in the 15-nation body on the bid to blacklist Azhar, blocking attempts by placing a “technical hold”. All decisions of the committee are taken through consensus.

In 2009, India moved a proposal by itself to designate Azhar. In 2016 again India moved the proposal with the P3 – the US, the UK and France – in the UN’s 1267 Sanctions Committee to ban Azhar, also the mastermind of the attack on the air base in Pathankot in January 2016.

In 2017, the P3 nations moved a similar proposal again. However, on all occasions, China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, blocked India’s proposal from being adopted by the sanctions committee.

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Beijing’s move makes the communist nation a tacit supporter of terror groups based in Pakistan. It is now quite evident that any move by India with the support of P-5 sponsors will be blocked by China in support of Islamabad. The quid pro quo in this case is evidently the total silence from Pakistan over Chinese human rights violations and atrocities against Sunni Muslims in restive Xinjiang or East Turkestan province.

India has every reason to condemn China’s attempts to shield Pakistan, a notorious abettor of cross-border terrorism, on global platforms. The onus is on the international community to call out Beijing for its tacit support to Pakistani-origin terror, which poses a constant threat to peace and stability in South Asia.

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The officials also exposed the role of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in the 2008 Mumbai attacks before the CTC by playing an audio clip of top LeT operative Sajid Mir, in which he can be heard giving instructions to the attackers at Chabad House, a Jewish outreach centre where several Israeli citizens were killed.

The officials were briefing the members of the CTC during an informal session held at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, one of the main targets of the attacks carried out in November 2008 by a 10-member LeT team.

Mir was arrested by Pakistani authorities and convicted of terror financing earlier this year, just ahead of a plenary meeting of the FATF. This followed years of claims by Pakistan that Mir was dead, an issue highlighted by one of the two intelligence officials who made the briefings. The terror-financing watchdog removed Pakistan from its grey list last week after more than four years.

In his presentation before the CTC, senior Intelligence Bureau officer Safi Rizvi said without naming Pakistan: “The FATF grey-listing of a troublesome jurisdiction and UN designation of Jaish-e-Mohammad [in 2001] and Lashkar-e-Taiba [in 2005] as well as nine India focused terrorist individuals have been able to create an impact by bringing down attacks on hard targets in Kashmir, reduction of terror bases across the border, open raising of funds and open terror activity between 2018 and mid-2021.”

He specifically mentioned the FATF listing of Pakistan, saying it provided India “a window of relative peace”.

“The FATF, in the last 10 years, has been a very effective tool to implement those very [UN] designations. While there were intelligence-led counter-terrorism operations, Balakot airstrikes [after the Pulwama attack of 2019] and removal of Article 370 from Kashmir which pushed the terror infrastructure in a troublesome jurisdiction [Pakistan], a large portion of the credit goes to FATF grey listing and the UN designation,” Rizvi said.

“In the mid of 2018, there were 600 terror bases across the border, which went down by 75% during FATF listing. This, we think, is the most important success, on account of which the counter-terrorism community should take a deeper look at as to how effective designations are,” he added.

He, however, expressed concerns that Pakistan’s removal from the grey list has already led to an increase in terrorist activity in India. “The moment talks started that grey listing [of Pakistan] is about to end, things have started to slide back. There is an increase in terror bases by 50% and we are expecting more scalable attacks on hard targets, and much more trouble,” Rizvi said.

By hard targets, the officer meant well-defended government establishments and military camps in Kashmir.

Earlier, in a presentation on terrorism, Pankaj Thakur, joint secretary in the home ministry, said the Mumbai attackers were trained in Muzaffarabad in June-August 2008 and were given motivational speeches by LeT chief Hafiz Saeed and operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi.

The attackers were also trained at Muridke near Lahore for two months in matters such as hostage-taking. In September 2008, they received marine training, including GPS-based navigation. When they infiltrated Mumbai, the attackers remained in constant touch with their LeT handlers through VoIP phone. Among the key conspirators was an ISI official identified only as Major Iqbal, Thakur said.

Thakur played the audio of Sajid Mir, in which the LeT operative responsible for surveillance of the targets in Mumbai, can be heard giving instructions to terrorists who were at Chabad House. He said a proposal for sanctioning Mir at the UN Security Council was on hold.

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In his report released, on 3 February, on ‘The situation in Afghanistan and its implications for international peace and security’, the secretary general said the “best way” to promote stability and future international support was for the Taliban to avoid the isolation that characterised its previous experience in power.

“The Taliban are showing efforts to present itself as a caretaker government. The movement, however, has yet to form governing structures that reflect the country’s ethnic, political and geographic diversity and include women. Efforts are constrained by the lack of resources and capacity, as well as an ideology that clashes in many ways with international norms of governance,” he said.

The report added that Afghanistan was experiencing a massive economic contraction. “The best way to promote stability and future international support is for the Taliban to avoid the isolation that characterised its previous experience in power,” Guterres said.

Al Qaeda Still Present

In another report “The 29th edition of the UNSC’s Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team” the United Nations Security Council said that terror group al-Qaeda’s Indian subcontinent affiliate has retained a presence in at least six provinces of Afghanistan and has approximately 200-400 fighters, including Indian nationals.

The report, which was released, on 7 February, was prepared by a UNSC group that monitors counter-terrorism sanctions targeting al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.

“[Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent] retains a presence in Afghanistan, in the provinces of Ghazni, Helmand, Kandahar, Nimruz, Paktika and Zabul, where the group fought alongside the Taliban against the ousted government. AQIS is estimated to have between 200 and 400 fighters, mainly from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Myanmar and Pakistan,” it said.

The 22-page report, signed by UNSC Committee Chair and Norwegian national Trine Heimerback, also stated that contrary to media reports, Aslam Farooqi, former leader of the Islamic State faction Islamic State — Khorasan Province (ISKP), and alleged mastermind of the March 2020 terror attack on a gurdwara in Kabul, had “escaped” from an Afghanistan prison and “subsequently rejoined the group in a senior capacity”.

Terror Groups Have More Freedom Now

“There are no recent signs that the Taliban has taken steps to limit the activities of foreign terrorist fighters in the country. On the contrary, terrorist groups enjoy greater freedom there than at any time in recent history. However, Member States have not reported significant new movements of foreign terrorist fighters to Afghanistan,” the report said. “Primary kinetic threat” in the eyes of the Taliban, contextualising some of the conflicting reporting on ISKP attacks in Afghanistan and the alleged killing of Farooqi. The Uyghur extremist group East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) has also backed the Taliban government, the report added.

Islamic State Gaining Ground in West Africa

The report also broadened its focus beyond Afghanistan to track terrorist activity and developments on a global scale, with West Africa representing a particular region of concern where the Islamic State is gaining ground, and Southeast Asia a “bright spot” with ISIS and al-Qaeda affiliates suffering defeats. In conflict zones like Iraq, ISIS “has evolved into a primarily rural insurgency” while al-Qaeda allies and affiliates continue to control northwestern Syria.

“Both Indonesia and the Philippines reported significant gains in countering threats from ISIL and Al-Qaida affiliates in the South-East Asia region, leading to an overall decline in terrorist activity and some optimism that the operational capability of the groups may be significantly degraded,” the report revealed, adding that lone-wolf attacks are still an ongoing risk.

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Deputy Inspector General (DIG) CTD Javed Iqbal Wazir made these remarks while speaking to reporters in Peshawar city on 30 December.

He said that the anti-terrorism wing has busted five major groups of Islamic State – Khorasan Province in Peshawar and Bannu region since 2020.

“Three of the major groups were busted by the CTD Peshawar region while two were busted by the CTD Bannu range. The held terrorists were involved in over 40 incidents of target-killing, including attacks on polio vaccination teams,” Pakistani newspaper The News International quoted Wazi as saying.

The CTD chief added the arrested and killed terrorists included a number of most wanted people who were carrying millions of rupees as head money.

The assertions of the top official are in stark contrast to a US report which has claimed that Pakistan failed to take adequate steps to counter-terrorism and prosecute terrorists including masterminds of the 2008 Mumbai attacks such as Jaish-e-Mohammed (JEM) founder Masood Azhar and Lashkar-e-Taiba’s (LeT) Sajid Mir.

It also said that Pakistan made “limited progress” in its pledge to dismantle all terrorist organizations without delay or discrimination.

Pakistan made limited progress on the most difficult aspects of its 2015 National Action Plan to counter-terrorism, specifically in its pledge to dismantle all terrorist organizations without delay or discrimination,” the US State Department report said in its 2020 ‘Country Reports on Terrorism’.

At the same time, the US report stated that Indian security agencies are effective in disrupting terror threats and respond “in a timely manner” to the requests made by the United States for information related to terrorism investigations.

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