The United States on Thursday labeled ‘The Resistance Front’, which took responsibility for the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack in India, as terrorists.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio labeled the terror group a “front and proxy” of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a UN-listed terror group based in Pakistan.
In a statement, Rubio said, the terrorist designation “demonstrates the Trump administration’s commitment to protecting our national security interests, countering terrorism, and enforcing President (Donald) Trump’s call for justice for the Pahalgam attack.”
Details of the April 22 Pahalgam Attack
On April 22, terrorists came down from the Baisaran valley in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam and fired at tourists there, killing 26 individuals, the majority of them civilians. The attack evoked widespread ire throughout India, with a number of countries around the world, including the US, showing solidarity with the country in its war against terrorism.
Trump had called Prime Minister Narendra Modi the moment he heard of the ghastly attack to express condolences for the lives lost.
The US, he said, was with India in its struggle against terrorism and was providing all assistance possible to New Delhi.
The US President was thanked by PM Modi, who said that India was committed to taking perpetrators and those abetting this dastardly act to task.
One of the Deadliest Attacks Since Pulwama
In one of the most lethal terror attacks on Jammu and Kashmir after the 2019 Pulwama bombing, terrorists murdered 26 individuals, the majority of whom were civilians, in Pahalgam’s Baisaran meadow on April 22.
At the time, Trump had also said that the Pahalgam attack was a “bad one”. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, he had said, “I am very close to India, and I’m very close to Pakistan, and they’ve had that fight for a thousand years in Kashmir. Kashmir has been going on for a thousand years, probably longer than that. That was a bad one (terrorist attack).”
The Resistance Front (TRF), a subsidiary of Lashkar-e-Taiba, had taken responsibility for the attack.
India-Pakistan Tensions Escalate
India-Pakistan tensions gravely heightened after the attack, with New Delhi having announced a list of strong steps against Islamabad that include suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, expulsion of Pakistan’s military attaches in the country, and the instant closure of the Attari-Wagah border.
India had also canceled all the visas that were given to Pakistani nationals and asked them to depart the country as soon as possible.
Almost two weeks later, on May 7, the Indian military initiated Operation Sindoor, initiating precision attacks on nine terrorist infrastructure targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
As part of this operation, over 100 terrorists were eliminated, and infrastructures pertaining to groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba, Hizbul Mujahideen, and Jaish-e-Mohammad were targeted.
Pakistan Retaliates With Drone Strikes
Pakistan tried to initiate a retaliatory military strike against India, attacking Jammu and Kashmir and other frontier areas with drones. Most of these attacks were defeated by India’s air defense system and military.
In between, as a response to Pakistani attacks, India also bombed the air bases of Islamabad, such as Nur Khan, Murid, Jacobabad, and Bholari air bases.
Following four days of fierce combat, Pakistan’s director general of military operations called his Indian counterpart on a hotline on May 10 and asked for a ceasefire.
TRF’s Role in Ongoing Violence in J&K
The Resistance Front (TRF), a proxy group of Hafiz Saeed’s Lashkar-e-Taiba, was responsible for the April 22 Pahalgam attack.
The terror group is also known to attack civilians, such as migrant workers, Kashmiri Pandits, etc., in Jammu and Kashmir for the last three to four years.
TRF Behind Major Attacks Since 2020
TRF is also behind the twin-drone attacks at the Jammu Indian Air Force (IAF) base in June 2021 as well as some cases of dropping weapons and explosives via unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) dispatched from the other side.
Various reports by the Indian intelligence units indicated that the TRF is merely the integral LeT group, as HT had reported.
TRF Created to Evade FATF Scrutiny
“The highly skilled terrorists of LeT are behind all these attacks on civilians since 2020. Following Pulwama attack and abrogation of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir, the name ‘TRF’ was popped up by anti-India planners in Pakistan Army and ISI in 2019 to avoid scrutiny from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF),” a counterterrorism official said.
The officer added that the modus operandi followed by Pakistan through the TRF is to instill a sense of terror among locals and civilians in the valley.
TRF Designated as Terror Outfit Under UAPA
In January 2023, The Resistance Front was banned by the ministry of home affairs under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and its commander Sajjad Gul was declared a person terrorist in 2022.
“TRF came into existence in the year 2019 as a proxy outfit of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a proscribed terrorist organisation listed at serial number 5 of the first schedule under the UAPA. TRF has been involved in carrying out propaganda on terror activities, recruitment of terrorists, infiltration of terrorists and smuggling of weapons and narcotics from Pakistan into Jammu and Kashmir,” the MHA said in its notification in 2023.
