Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed and Jaish-e-Muhammed boss Masood Azhar

NEW DELHI: Using the recently amended provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the government on Wednesday notified four most-wanted terrorists based in Pakistan -Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, Jaish-e-Muhammed boss Masood Azhar , LeT operations chief and 26/11 conspirator Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and 1993 Mumbai blasts accused Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar - as 'individual terrorists'.

While LeT and JeM were already banned as terrorist outfits under UAPA, this is the first time that underworld don Dawood, who has been holed up in Pakistan for the past several years with alleged facilitation by Pakistani spy agency ISI , has been designated as a terrorist under an Indian law.

All the four blacklisted terror masterminds are already tagged as 'global terrorists' under UN Security Council Resolution 1267 and are also subjects of Interpol red corner notices.

UAPA was amended last month to allow the government to ban individual terrorists if it believed they are involved in terrorism.

Notifying the names of the Pakistan-based terror masterminds in the Fourth Schedule to UAPA brings the Indian terror blacklist in sync with the UN list of designated terrorists. This also conforms to FATF standards that require all member countries to ban those designated as global terrorists. Since the list is publicised, all financial and other institutions can add these to their respective blacklists. It serves as a tool to prevent access of the designated individual terrorist to funding and other amenities.

Home ministry sources said the 'individual terrorist' tag would help Indian agencies with investigation, prosecution and trial of cases registered against the notified terrorists.

