In a first, UNSC report names TRF as group behind Pahalgam terror attack

Business Standard

2 days ago

In a diplomatic win for India, The Resistance Front (TRF), a proxy of Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), has found mention for the first time in a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) report for its role in the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22 in which terrorists killed 26 people.
It is also the first time that TRF has been mentioned in any UN document. This also marks the first mention of the LeT and any other Pakistan-based terror group in the report since 2019. Days after the Pahalgam terror attack, Pakistan had blocked India's efforts to get the UNSC to name TRF in its condemnation of the attack.
Government sources said the latest report of the UNSC Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team demonstrates India's strong counter-terrorism credentials and their recognition by countries worldwide. It is also a reflection of close cooperation between India and like-minded countries in the UNSC, the sources said. The inclusion of TRF in the Monitoring Team report, despite Pakistan's efforts for its removal, highlights Islamabad's undeniable involvement in fomenting terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), and also attests to India's credibility in the UN on the counter-terrorism front, the sources said.
'It highlights Pakistan's obstructive approach to counter-terrorism efforts, recognition of the international community of the continuing threat posed by Pakistan-based terror groups and their proxies, and the key exporter of terrorism to the world,' one of the sources said.
The development is particularly notable as all decisions of the 1267 Sanctions Committee, including Monitoring Team reports, are adopted by consensus by the members of the Security Council. The UNSC's 1267 Sanctions Committee is tasked to implement sanctions against terrorists, terror groups, and entities.
The government sources said the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has undertaken comprehensive and coordinated efforts, and provided detailed inputs on TRF and other Pakistan-sponsored terror proxies to the UNSC Monitoring Team since December 2023. In 2024, on two occasions, the MEA had provided inputs to the Monitoring Team on the activities of TRF and its linkages to the LeT. An MEA-led inter-ministerial delegation briefed the Monitoring Team and other senior UN officials in New York in May 2024, and also shared a dossier on TRF, the sources said.
The inter-ministerial delegation had held separate briefings for like-minded countries in the Security Council and other major UN member states. Resident Missions in New Delhi and Indian Missions in key capitals ensured sustained follow-up, backed by parliamentary delegations raising TRF's role in interactions abroad, the sources added.
They pointed out that Pakistani foreign minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar had earlier boasted in the Pakistan National Assembly about forcing the removal of references to TRF in the UNSC press statement condemning the Pahalgam attack. 'Now, the mention of TRF in the Monitoring Team Report is evidence how the world views Pakistan's lies and deceitful narrative,' the sources said.
Pakistan's strategy of plausible deniability — that is using seemingly secular and modern names like The Resistance Front and People Against Fascist Front for its jihadi proxies to divert attention from LeT and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and give an indigenous appearance to its terrorist activities in J&K — now stands punctured, the government sources said.
The Monitoring Team report quoted one unnamed member state as saying that the April 22 terror attack in J&K could not have happened without the support of the LeT and that there was a relationship between the 'LeT and The Resistance Front'.
'On April 22, five terrorists attacked a tourist spot in Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir. Twenty-six civilians were killed. The attack was claimed that same day by The Resistance Front (TRF), who in parallel published a photograph of the attack site. The claim of responsibility was repeated the following day. On April 26, however, TRF retracted their claim. There was no further communication from TRF, and no other group claimed responsibility,' the report said.
"Regional relations remain fragile. There is a risk that terrorist groups may exploit these regional tensions. One member state said the attack could not have happened without LeT's support, and that there was a relationship between LeT and TRF," the report said. "Another member state said the attack was carried out by TRF, which was synonymous with LeT. One member state rejected these views and said that LeT was defunct," it said.
The member state which claimed that LeT was defunct largely appears to be Pakistan, the sources pointed out.