United Kingdom retains ban on six antiIndia outfits

Six groups involved in activities related to Jammu and Kashmir and Khalistan remain on Britain’s list of banned organisations - called “proscribed” terrorist entities - according to the latest update that names 74 groups operating in and across various countries.

New Delhi has often asked London to clamp down on groups allegedly indulging in anti-India activities from British soil.

The International Sikh Youth Federation, banned in 2001, was removed from the list in March 2016. The current list includes Babbar Khalsa, which the Home Office describes as “a Sikh movement that aims to establish an independent Khalistan within the Punjab region of India”.

The six groups include four related to Jammu and Kashmir: Harakat-Ul-Jihad-Ul-Islami (proscribed in October 2005), Harakat Mujahideen (proscribed in March 2001), Jaish-e-Mohammed and splinter group Khuddam Ul-Islam (JeM proscribed in March 2001 and KuI proscribed in October 2005), and Jamaat Ul-Furquan (proscribed in October 2005). Also named in the list is Indian Mujahideen (proscribed in July 2012), described as an organisation that “aims to establish an Islamic state and implement Sharia law in India using violent means”.

Under Britain’s Terrorism Act 2000, proscription makes it a criminal offence to belong, or profess to belong, to a banned organisation in the UK or overseas, or to invite support for a proscribed organisation (and the support is not restricted to the provision of money or other property).

LONDON: