Hours after Pakistan’s foreign minister and deputy PM Ishaq Dar expressed disagreement with the United States’ ban on the TRF, the terror outfit issued a statement opposing the decision.
The Resistance Front justifies its armed resistance in Jammu and Kashmir as a lawful and necessary response to what it describes as the “unlawful Indian occupation”.
The TRF claims that its designation as a terrorist organisation by the United States is unjust and influenced by Indian pressure on American institutions.
The group maintains it is a legitimate, local freedom movement fighting against the so-called “Indian occupation” of Jammu and Kashmir, rejecting the terrorist label.
It asserts that the US and other powers label Kashmiri groups as terrorists out of frustration.
TRF’s statement rejects the US decision, framing its struggle as a rightful liberation from an oppressive Indian regime.
Top intelligence sources reveal that the TRF is not an indigenous movement but a front for Lashkar-e-Taiba.
It is strategically created by Pakistan’s ISI to give jihadi terrorism in Kashmir a local resistance façade and bypass international scrutiny post-2019 abrogation of Article 370.
“The timing of the TRF statement, issued just hours after Ishaq Dar criticised the US designation, clearly exposes the synergy between Pakistan’s diplomatic machinery and its terror proxies, confirming state-sponsored narrative warfare,” said a source.
The TRF has been involved in targeted killings of civilians, migrant workers, and minority communities in Kashmir.
“It is obviously a sovereign decision of the United States to designate the TRF. We have no issue. And we welcome, if they have any evidence, that they are involved,” said Dar at an event in Washington DC. Dar met US secretary of state Marco Rubio earlier on Friday.
“Linking the TRF to the Lashkar-e-Taiba is wrong. That outfit was dismantled years ago by Pakistan. The actors were prosecuted, arrested and jailed, and the entire outfit was destroyed,” said Dar, repeating a claim often made by Pakistan’s government.
Earlier, Dar told Pakistan’s Parliament that Islamabad had blocked mention of the TRF in a UN Security Council Resolution which condemned the Pahalgam attacks.
“We opposed the mention of TRF in the UNSC statement. I got calls from global capitals, but Pakistan will not accept. TRF was deleted, and Pakistan prevailed,” said Dar in April.
Dar added at the time that Pakistan would require further proof about the TRF’s activities.
Dar defended that stance in response to a query from HT at a public event on Friday. Pakistan’s foreign minister said no evidence was available at the time against the TRF to justify its inclusion in a UNSC statement.
India declared TRF a terrorist organisation under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in January 2023. The South Asia Terrorism Portal indicates that TRF emerged in 2019 via social media announcements, and since then, it has taken responsibility for several attacks across Jammu and Kashmir, including a grenade attack in Srinagar, injuring seven civilians and targeted killings in 2021.
India has persistently pushed for the TRF to be designated as a terrorist entity internationally, submitting evidence and representations to the UN’s 1267 Sanctions Committee monitoring team in May and November 2024, having raised this issue previously throughout 2023.
