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Weeks before terror designation, India sent TRF dossier to US and UN teams
India was notified about the designation four days before the US made the announcement official on Thursday.
During his visit to Washington D.C. from May 27–29, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri handed over the dossier to the US State Department. A similar file was submitted to the UN committee for targeted sanctions against TRF, the news report said.
Who leads TRF and what are its links?
TRF is headed by Sheikh Sajjad Gul, a Kashmiri operative handpicked by Pakistan's ISI to serve as the group's local face. He has overseen several attacks in Kashmir between 2020 and 2024, including the Pahalgam massacre, grenade blasts, and ambushes on police forces.
The 50-year-old Gul is originally from Srinagar and studied in Bengaluru and Kerala. After returning to the valley, he set up a diagnostic lab while aiding LeT. He was arrested in Delhi in 2003 with five kg of RDX and sentenced to 10 years in jail, the news report said.
After his release, Gul fled to Pakistan in 2017. The ISI installed him as TRF head in 2019 to mask Pakistan-backed terrorism as a local insurgency post-Pulwama.
TRF designated as foreign terrorist organisation
The US has officially designated The Resistance Front (TRF) — a proxy group of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) — as both a Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO) and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT).
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the decision reflects Washington's commitment to ensuring justice for the victims of the Pahalgam attack. 'This action underscores our commitment to counter terrorism and hold accountable those who target civilians,' he said.
The State Department noted that TRF has carried out several attacks targeting Indian security personnel over recent years, including the latest one in 2024. By labelling TRF as both an FTO and SDGT — under Section 219 of the US Immigration and Nationality Act and Executive Order 13224 — the US will now be able to apply enhanced legal and financial restrictions on the group and its associates.
The US has also reaffirmed that the LeT will continue to remain designated as an FTO. LeT is notorious for its involvement in numerous terror attacks, including the 2008 Mumbai attacks, and has long been under international scrutiny.
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