The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Friday banned Jammu and Kashmir Ghaznavi Force (JKGF) and Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) besides designating Harwinder Singh Sandhu of Babbar Khalsa International as ‘terrorist’ under the stringent UAPA law.
Issuing a notification on JKGF, the MHA said it surfaced in 2020 and drew cadres from Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Tehreek-ul- Mujahideen and Harkat-ul-Jihad-e-Islami among others and was involved in infiltration bids, narcotics and weapons smuggling and terror attacks.
It also regularly issued threats to the security forces and used social media to incite people in Jammu and Kashmir to join terrorist outfits, the MHA said in the notification.
In a separate notification, the MHA said the KTF, which came into existence in 2011 as an offshoot to Babbar Khalsa International, was receiving financial and logistics support, including sophisticated weaponry from their foreign based handlers.
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The outfit aims to revive terrorism in Punjab with a view to achieve a separate ‘Khalistan’ and challenges the integrity, unity, national security and sovereignty of India, it said, adding its current operational chief Hardeep Singh Nijjar has been already designated as ‘terrorist’.
With this, there are 44 terrorist organisations that are banned under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
Separately, the MHA also designated Sandhu, who is presently based in Pakistan’s Lahore, as a terrorist. He is accused of having links with Pakistan-based terror groups and involved in cross border smuggling of arms, ammunition, militant hardware and drugs trade.
He is also accused of being involved in murder and other cases in Punjab, Maharashtra, Haryana, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, the notification said.