Center Designates Hizbul Operative Asif Maqbool Dar as Terrorist under UAPA

New Delhi: The Home Ministry has designated Hizb-ul-Mujahideen operative Dr. Asif Maqbool Dar as a terrorist under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, of 1967. The ministry said in a notification issued on Saturday that Dar currently based in Saudi Arabia, has been involved in instigating the youth of Kashmir Valley using social media platforms for terrorist activities.

“Dr. Asif Maqbool Dar is one of the leading radical voices on social media and involved in nefariously influencing Kashmiri youth to take up arms against Indian Government and Security Forces,” the ministry alleged.

Dar is charged in a case relating to a conspiracy hatched by the cadres of a terrorist organization to undertake violent terrorist acts in Jammu and Kashmir and major cities in India, including New Delhi, at the direction of handlers based across the border. The National Investigating Agency (NIA) is probing the case.

The central government believes that Dar is “involved in terrorism and…is to be added as a terrorist under the said Act”, the notification said.

Earlier, the MHA designated Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) member Arbaz Ahmad Mir as a terrorist under the UAPA for his involvement in targeted killings in Jammu and Kashmir, including a female teacher Rajni Bala. The MHA announced a late Friday night notification, stating that Mir, who hails from Jammu and Kashmir and is presently based in Pakistan, is working for LeT from across the border.

“Mir is involved in target killing and has emerged as the main conspirator in killing one female teacher, Rajni Bala in Kulgam, Jammu, and Kashmir. He is also involved in coordinating terrorism in Kashmir valley and supporting terrorists by transporting illegal arms or ammunition or explosives from across the border,” said the notification.

Rajni Bala from Jammu was shot dead outside her workplace, Government High School, Gopalpora, in Kulgam district on May 31, 2022.