The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has declared the People’s Anti-Fascist Front (PAFF), the front organization of terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed, as a “terrorist organisation”.
The ministry designated Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) member Arbaz Ahmad Mir as an individual terrorist under the stringent anti-terror law, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act of 1967 or UAPA.
In a notification, the MHA said that the PAFF has been regularly issuing threats to security forces, political leaders and civilians operating in J&K from other states. PAFF, along with other organisations, is actively involved in plotting, both physical and social media, to carry out violent terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir and major cities of India. Along with other organisations, the PAFF is involved in the radicalization of impressionable youth through recruitment and training in handling guns, ammunition and explosives. The group has also been involved in terrorism. The Ministry of Home Affairs said that it has committed and participated in various acts of terrorism in India.
The PAFF released a video in October 2021 after the killing of nine soldiers in the Poonch-Rajouri belt of Jammu and Kashmir. The video claimed that two unidentified terrorists tracked an Indian Army patrol for about 10 hours before ambushing their tent at dawn the next day (11 October). The Army had launched a massive search operation in the forest areas of Poonch and Rajouri to trace the terrorists involved in the killing of the nine soldiers.
In a separate notification, the MHA designated Arbaz Ahmad Mir, who is from Jammu and Kashmir but is currently based in Pakistan and working for banned terrorist group, Lashkar, as an individual terrorist.
It said that Mir has been involved in target killings and has emerged as the main conspirator in the killing of Rajni Bala, a teacher, in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kulgam a few months ago. The ministry said that Mir has been involved in coordinating terrorism in the Kashmir Valley and supporting terrorists by moving illegal arms or ammunition or explosives from across the border.
The Central Government believes that Mir has been involved in terrorism and therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred by clause (a) of sub-section (1) of section 35 of the UAPA, designates him as an individual terrorist. has been done, the notification said.