Dreaded terrorists and India's most wanted men, Dawood Ibrahim, Hafiz Saeed and Zakir-ur-Rahman Lakhvi and Masood Azhar, have been declared terrorists by the Union government under the new anti-terror law.

The decisions to declare Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar and Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Muhammad Saeed as individual terrorists was notified by the home ministry through a gazette notification dated September 4, 2019.

"And whereas, the central government believes that Maulana Masood Azhar is involved in terrorism and Maulana Masood Azhar is to be notified as a terrorist under the said Act. And whereas, the central government believes that Hafiz Muhammad Saeed is involved in terrorism and Hafiz Muhammad Saeed is to be notified as a terrorist under the said Act," the home ministry notification said.

The decisions have been taken after the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill, 2019, was passed by the Parliament on August 2, 2019, to amend the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.

Under Section 35(1)(a) of the new law, the Central Government is empowered to notify the name of an individual in the Fourth Schedule to the Act, if it believes that he is involved in terrorism.

[Read Notification]