For the first time, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has officially named The Resistance Front (TRF) for carrying out the terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir. A new UN sanctions monitoring report confirmed that TRF claimed responsibility for the April 22 attack, which killed 26 people. This is the first time TRF has been named in any formal UN document.

TRF is a proxy group connected to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a terror group based in Pakistan. Despite strong objections from Pakistan, the UN Monitoring Team included TRF in its report. India sees this as an important success for its diplomatic efforts.

What the UN report says about the attack

The UN report mentions that five terrorists launched the attack in Pahalgam on April 22. On the same day, TRF claimed responsibility and even shared a photo from the attack site. The group repeated the claim on April 23 but took it back on April 26. However, no other group claimed the attack after the TRF retracted its statement.

Still, the Monitoring Team noted that at least two member countries told the UN that the attack could not have happened without LeT's help. One country clearly stated that TRF and LeT are the same. Another country, however, said LeT no longer exists.

After the Pahalgam attack, India started Operation Sindoor, which targeted terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

Pakistan tried to remove TRF name, but failed

Pakistan has tried to remove the name of TRF from official UN documents. Its foreign minister even told the Pakistan National Assembly that he succeeded in removing the name. But now the UN Monitoring Team’s new report has added TRF back in, rejecting Pakistan’s claim.

An Indian government source said:

“Pakistan’s strategy of plausible deniability using secular and modern names like 'The Resistance Front' and 'People Against Fascist Front' for its proxies to divert attention from LeT/JeM and give an indigenous appearance to its terrorist activities in Jammu & Kashmir now stands punctured.”

This report is important because UN Monitoring Team reports are adopted by consensus by all Security Council members and cannot be easily changed. It also marks the first time since 2019 that a UN report has mentioned a group linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba.

US declares TRF as global terror group

Earlier this month, the United States officially declared TRF as a global terrorist group. On July 17, the US Department of State listed TRF as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO) and as part of the Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGT).

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar highlighted this in Lok Sabha on July 28. He said:

“When the Security Council was debating this on April 25, and TRF had twice claimed responsibility for the Pahalgam attack, Pakistan defended the TRF. Pakistan tried to get any mention of TRF excluded, and in fact, the Pakistani Foreign Minister told his Parliament that this is a great diplomatic achievement. Now, I mention it because today, again, thanks to our diplomacy, the TRF has been designated as a global terrorist organisation by the US government, and the same Pakistani Foreign Minister, who took so much pride saying, ‘I defended the TRF,’ says, ‘Well, now if the US has done this, we accept it.’ ”

Mr. Jaishankar also spoke about Tahawwur Rana, an American citizen wanted in the 2008 Mumbai attacks. He said:

“People asked where our diplomacy was. I say Rana is in Indian custody because of that diplomacy.”

Other terror threats in the region

The UN report also warns about the growing threat of ISIL-Khorasan (ISIL-K) in Central and South Asia. The group has around 2,000 fighters and is growing stronger in Afghanistan and nearby countries. It is reportedly training children as young as 14 to become suicide bombers.

Another group, Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), has about 6,000 fighters and is said to be getting help from Afghan authorities. Some countries told the UN that TTP is also working together with ISIL-K in some cases.

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