US backs India for declaring JeM, LeT chiefs terrorists

Washington: The US has backed India's move to declare four notorious criminals, including JeM chief Masood Azhar, LeT founder Hafiz Saeed, as terrorists individually under a new anti-terror law, expanding possibilities of cooperation between the two countries to combat the scourge of terrorism.

India on Wednesday declared Mumbai terror attack accused Zaki-ur-Rehman-Lakhvi, fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim, Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar and Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, as individual terrorists by the government under a new anti-terror law.

"We stand w/ #India & commend it for utilising new legal authorities to designate four notorious terrorists: Maulana Masood Azhar, Hafiz Saeed, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi & Dawood Ibrahim," the Acting Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asia, Alice G Wells, tweeted on Wednesday.

The decision to declare all four of them as terrorist have been taken nearly a month after Parliament approved a crucial amendment to the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment (UAPA) Act, 1967. The four are the first to be declared terrorists under the new anti-law, an official at the Ministry of Home Affairs said in New Delhi.

According to the UAPA, earlier only a group could be declared as a terrorist organisation. The amendments made in the Act allows the government to declare even an individual as a terrorist.