© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
In the wake of the terrorist attack on tourists at Baisaran, an off-the-road meadow, in South Kashmir’s Pahalgam Tuesday, in which at least 26 people were killed and several others injured, The Resistance Front (TRF), a shadow group of the banned Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terror group, claimed responsibility for the strike, according to sources in the central agencies.
In January 2023, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) declared the TRF a “terrorist organisation” under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for propaganda on terror activities, recruitment of terrorists, infiltration of terrorists and smuggling of weapons and narcotics from Pakistan into Jammu and Kashmir. The move had come months after TRF issued threats to journalists in Kashmir.
According to a notification issued by the MHA then, TRF came into existence in 2019 as a proxy outfit of LeT. “TRF is recruiting youth through online medium for furtherance of terrorist activities and has been also involved in carrying out propaganda on terror activities, recruitment of terrorists, infiltration of terrorists and smuggling of weapons and narcotics from Pakistan into J&K. TRF is involved in psychological operations on social media platforms for inciting people of J&K to join terrorist outfits against the Indian state,” the notification said.
TRF was a new name given by Pakistan to LeT, officials said. “Lashkar and Jaish-e-Mohammad had religious connotations and Pakistan did not want that. They wanted to make Kashmir militancy appear indigenous. Hence, they opted for ‘Resistance’ — that has some currency in global politics — in its name,” an official said.
According to the MHA notification, Sheikh Sajjad Gul, a TRF commander, has been designated as a terrorist under the Fourth Schedule of the UAPA.
“The activities of the TRF are detrimental for the security and sovereignty of India. A large number of cases have been registered against the members/associates of the TRF relating to planning of killing of security personnel and civilians of J&K, co-coordinating and transporting weapons to support proscribed terrorist organisations…,” the MHA said.
The group had issued threats to a few media houses in the Valley for their “traitorous acts” following which several journalists had resigned from local publications.
TRF began as an online entity in the aftermath of the abrogation of Article 370 and revocation of special status to J&K in August 2019. According to the police, based out of Karachi, after about six months of gaining traction online, TRF took shape on the ground as an amalgam of different outfits including Tehreek-e-Millat Islamia and Ghaznavi Hind, apart from the Lashkar.
A senior security official said that in order to avoid scrutiny under the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the rebranding had to be done in a manner that suggested a people’s movement rather than an outfit with a religious colour to its name. Other “proxies” were also floated but TRF remained most active.
In post 2019 Kashmir, the aim was to project ‘resistance’ in a popular sense to bring distance from an Islamic name and give it a neutral character.
TRF started taking responsibility for attacks in 2020. Different attacks would be perpetrated through the Valley but only TRF claimed responsibility, as opposed to the traditional organisations active in Kashmir — Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Hizbul Mujahideen.
The first signs of TRF emerging as a growing militant group were visible when the J&K Police busted a module of over ground workers (OGWs) in Sopore – the town was a strong Lashkar base in the Valley before it yielded its position to Hizbul Mujahideen and Jaish-e-Mohammad — and Kupwara. The police recovered a cache of arms and ammunition dumped by militants near the Line of Control (LoC) at Keran. The arrested OGWs revealed they were “recruiting youth for the new outfit”.
In its annual data then, police said the maximum number of militants killed in the Valley in 2022 belonged to TRF.
In March 2023, the MHA informed the Rajya Sabha that it has banned 54 terrorists and 44 terror organisations under the Fourth Schedule and the First Schedule of the UAPA till February that year.
Then Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai had told the House that four organisations, including TRF, had been notified as terrorist organisations under the UAPA that year, whose names have been added in the First Schedule of the Act.
Regarding TRF, Rai said it was a proxy outfit of the LeT which came into existence in 2019. “It (TRF) has been involved in planning of killings of security force personnel and innocent civilians of Jammu and Kashmir, co-ordinating and transporting weapons to support proscribed terrorist organisations, recruitment of terrorists, infiltration of terrorists and smuggling of weapons and narcotics from across the border,” he said.
