US Terror Tag For TRF Boosts India's FATF Case Against Pakistan After China's UNSC Block
In May, China helped Pakistan to ensure 'The Resistance Front' (TRF) is not named in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) press statement issued after the dastardly Pahalgam attack. But India reversed the tables at the global stage on Thursday with some slick diplomacy as the US State Department designated TRF as a global terrorist organisation.
India could now use this move of the TRF's designation by the US state department to press the UNSC to bring sanctions against the TRF, whom India has termed as a proxy of the Lashkar-e-Taiba. It is believed that Pakistan had tried to lobby to prevent TRF's designation by the US but India's diplomacy moves trumped Pakistan. A top source in the Indian establishment said Pakistan had made TRF withdraw its original claim of being behind the Pahalgam attack but the same did not cut ice with the US.
The move could mean freeze on funding of TRF as well as strengthen India's case at the FATF meeting in August to put Pakistan back in the 'grey list'.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar thanked the US for designating TRF as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) and Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) and made it clear that this organisation had claimed responsibility for the April 22 Pahalgam attack. 'Zero tolerance for terrorism," Jaishankar said, underlining the latest step as a 'strong affirmation" of India-US counter-terrorism cooperation.
India's case is that Lashkar-e-Taiba created a front called TRF and the same has been flagged by India before the UNSC various times. TRF twice claimed responsibility for the Pahalgam attack but later withdrew it sensing it could backfire for Pakistan at the global level. While Pakistan, with China's help, was able to avoid a mention of the TRF at the UNSC in May, India's sustained diplomacy since has helped bring about the US move now.
'Today, the Department of State is adding The Resistance Front (TRF) as a designated Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO) and Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT)," US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement on Friday. 'These actions taken by the Department of State demonstrate the Trump Administration's commitment to protecting our national security interests, countering terrorism, and enforcing President Trump's call for justice for the Pahalgam attack," he added.
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