MEA calls TRF a front of Lashkar-e-Taiba, will push for it to be listed as terror entity at UNSC

MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal

Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal on Tuesday called The Resistance Front (TRF) as a proxy of the Pakistan-based terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba. He highlighted that India would intensify efforts to have TRF designated as a terrorist organization by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).

TRF, an offshoot of Lashkar-e-Taiba, has been responsible for multiple terrorist attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, including the recent assault in Pahalgam on April 22.

"We have had several rounds of briefings and in these briefings we have also shared with you the kind of linkage we see between the perpetrators of the attack of Pahalgam in particular, The Resistance Front (TRF). Foreign Secretary, in his statement, also made very clear the kind of evidence that we see, and an investigation is going on in this particular matter. You would have seen that TRF had taken responsibility, and on the second day, twice they had taken responsibility. Thereafter, possibly at the behest of their handlers, they rolled it back. But TRF is one organisation which is a front of the Lashkar-e-Taiba. We have been pursuing listing of TRF by the UNSC 1267 Sanctions Committee," Jaiswal told reporters at the ministry's weekly briefing.

"Over the last two years or so, we have been sharing information with the United Nations Security Council and the monitoring team of the Sanctions Committee as to why the The Resistance Front, a front for the Lashkar-e-Taiba, should be listed as a terrorist entity. We will be also in few days time sharing more details in this regard. Hopefully, Security Council 1267 monitoring team will take strong note of what we present, what we file and take due action against what is required," he added.

India plans to send a delegation to the upcoming meeting of the UNSC’s 1267 Sanctions Committee, scheduled for later this week, to push for TRF’s designation as a terrorist group. Such a listing would lead to sanctions and travel bans on its members.

The 1267 Sanctions Committee, officially known as the ISIS and Al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee, is responsible for imposing sanctions on individuals and groups associated with terrorism, in accordance with UNSC resolutions 1267, 1989, and 2253.

However, efforts to include TRF in a recent UN statement condemning the Pahalgam attack were blocked, reportedly due to the intervention of China, a permanent member of the UNSC and a close ally of Pakistan.