It expands our efforts to combat terrorism: US lauds India on declaring Saeed, others as terrorists under new law

The United States on Thursday lauded India's move to declared four Pakistan-based individuals, including Mumbai terror attack mastermind and Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed, as terrorists under the amended Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 2019.

In a tweet, the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs (SCA), United States said that the new law "expands possibilities for joint #USIndia efforts to combat scourge of terrorism".

"We stand w/ #India & commend it for utilizing new legal authorities to designate 4 notorious terrorists: Maulana Masood Azhar, Hafiz Saeed, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi & Dawood Ibrahim. This new law expands possibilities for joint #USIndia efforts to combat scourge of terrorism," the tweet read. 

The government on Wednesday declared four Pakistan-based individuals, including Mumbai terror attack mastermind and Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed, as terrorists under the amended unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 2019, reported news agency ANI.

Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar, Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and underworld don Dawood Ibrahim are the other individuals who have been designated as terrorist.

Hafiz Saeed and Masood Azhar have already been declared global terrorists by the United States, United Nations and European Union.

The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act, which was passed by the Parliament last month, allows the Centre and States to designate individuals as terrorists and seize their property. 

Under the earlier law, only organisations could be designated as terrorist outfits and not individuals.