United States backs India for listing Dawood Ibrahim, Hafiz Saeed, Masood Azhar as terrorists

The United States on Thursday backed India designating four Pakistan based criminals as terrorists under the amended Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, saying it would expand possibilities of cooperation between Washington and New Delhi in fighting terrorism.

The Acting Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asia, Alice G Wells, tweeted on Wednesday, “We stand with India and commend it for utilizing new legal authorities to designate four notorious terrorists: Maulana Masood Azhar, Hafiz Saeed, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and Dawood Ibrahim. This new law expands possibilities for joint #USIndia efforts to combat the scourge of terrorism.”

On Wednesday, fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Saeed, Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar, LeT’s supreme commander of operations in Kashmir Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi were designated as terrorists under the UAPA.

The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act allows the Centre and states to designate individuals as terrorists and seize their property. The law was passed last month. Under the earlier law, only organisations could be designated as terrorist outfits and not individuals.