New Delhi: The Ministry of Home Affairs today declared an individual Harwinder Singh Sandhu alias Rinda as a terrorist and two organisations – Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) and Jammu and Kashmir Ghaznavi Force (JKGF) as ‘terrorist organisations.
Rinda has been associated with the militant organization Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) and is presently based in Lahore, Pakistan under the patronage of cross-border agencies. He has been found involved in various terrorist activities, particularly in Punjab.
So far, by invoking the amended Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), the Central Government has designated 54 individuals as terrorists in the IVth Schedule of UAPA. Prior to the amendment of UAPA in 2019, only organisations could be designated as terrorist organisations.
The Central Government today also declared the following two organisations as terrorist organizations under the provisions of the UAPA:
- Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF): It is a militant outfit which aims to revive terrorism in Punjab and challenges the territorial integrity, unity, national security and sovereignty of India and promotes various acts of terrorism, including targeted killings in Punjab.
- Jammu and Kashmir Ghaznavi Force (JKGF): It has been found involved in infiltration bids, narcotics and weapon smuggling and carrying out terror attacks in the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It draws its cadres from various terrorist organisations, such as Lashker-E-Taiba, Jaish-E-Mohammed, Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen, Harkat-ul—Jehad-E-Islami etc.
With the declaration of these two organisations as terrorist organisations, there are now a total of 44 such designated organizations under the Ist Schedule of the Act.
– global bihari bureau
