Army Chief labels Hamas a terrorist group for first time, signals shift in India’s security concerns

New Delhi, Aug 10 In a significant statement, Army chief General Upendra Dwivedi on Sunday named Hamas among terrorist organisations that India is concerned about, placing it alongside groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and The Resistance Front (TRF).

“The terrorist groups such as Hamas, LeT, TRF and some more names coming up… they’ll be the permanent part that India is concerned (about)," Gen Dwivedi said at an event hosted by IIT-Madras.

This is the first time an Indian Army chief has publicly described Hamas as a terrorist organisation, a classification India has so far avoided officially, even though much of the Western bloc, including the US, UK and EU, already designates the group as such as such. T

Hamas, which is not on the United Nations’ list of designated terror groups, is known for its October 7, 2023, attack on Israeli civilians — a strike that triggered the devastating Gaza war, claiming over 60,000 lives, including thousands of children. While Hamas has historically not interfered in the Kashmir conflict, its name surfaced in Indian security circles earlier this year.

On February 5 — observed in Pakistan as ‘Kashmir Solidarity Day’ — social media was flooded with images and videos showing Hamas members in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) alongside LeT, Jaish-e-Mohammed and other Pakistan-backed militant outfits. The individuals were seen delivering anti-India speeches and proclaiming that Kashmir would be “snatched from India,” prompting alarm within New Delhi’s security establishment.

Ahead of the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, Israel had been urging India to officially list Hamas as a terrorist group. However, New Delhi had maintained its distance from the designation, possibly due to geopolitical balancing in West Asia.

Gen Dwivedi’s statement, therefore, assumes strategic importance, signalling a potential recalibration in India’s security posture and threat perception.

His remarks suggest that, post-Operation Sindoor, India’s counter-terrorism lens may be expanding beyond South Asia, encompassing groups with a global footprint that are now seen as intersecting with the Kashmir theatre.

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