Pak FM Ishaq Dar backs US move to designate TRF a terror group, rejects Lashkar link

Dar said Pakistan had “no objection” to the U.S. move and would welcome any evidence establishing TRF’s involvement in terror activities.

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, in a marked departure from his earlier stance, late Friday evening, endorsed the U.S.’ decision to designate The Resistance Front (TRF) as a terrorist organisation, even as he distanced the outfit from its widely reported affiliation with Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Speaking at an event in Washington, Dar said Pakistan had “no objection” to the U.S. move and would welcome any evidence establishing TRF’s involvement in terror activities. He, however, rejected linking TRF to Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistan-based group that New Delhi has long accused of backing TRF’s operations in Jammu and Kashmir.

“It is a sovereign decision of the U.S. to designate TRF. We have no issue. And we welcome, if they have any evidence, that they are involved,” Dar told reporters.

To be noted, this shift in Islamabad's stance is significant given that just months earlier, Dar had claimed credit for Pakistan’s diplomatic manoeuvring to exclude TRF’s name from a UN Security Council statement condemning the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, which claimed the lives of 26 people.

At the time, Dar had asserted there was insufficient evidence and had also boasted in Parliament that “Pakistan prevailed” in getting TRF’s name removed despite pressure from multiple global capitals.

India designated TRF a terrorist outfit under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in January 2023. The group, which first surfaced in 2019, has claimed responsibility for numerous attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, including targeted killings and grenade strikes over the years.

According to Indian security agencies, TRF operates as a proxy for Lashkar-e-Taiba to obscure the latter’s role in regional militancy.

Also to be noted here, Dar’s softened tone, which coincides with Pakistan’s renewed efforts to reframe its global counter-terrorism narrative. During his ongoing eight-day visit to the U.S., Dar has chaired several United Nations Security Council (UNSC) meetings under Pakistan’s rotating presidency and held talks with top American officials, including US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

In a video released by ANI, Dar and Rubio were seen shaking hands at the Department of State, with Pakistani officials later claiming that the US acknowledged Pakistan’s “sacrifices in the war on terror.”

The latest diplomatic engagement, meanwhile, comes amid heightened security concerns in Pakistan, with the government urging social media platforms to block hundreds of accounts allegedly linked to banned militant outfits like the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA).

Deputy Interior Minister Talal Chaudhry has accused these groups of using platforms like X, Facebook, Instagram, and Telegram to glorify violence and incite unrest.

Additionally, Pakistan’s shifting tone on terror designations also coincides with U.S. President Donald Trump’s claims of brokering peace between India and Pakistan following Operation Sindoor.

In a closed-door meeting at the White House with Pakistan’s Army Chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, Trump said he was “honoured” to host the general and claimed he had helped end the brief but tense military confrontation between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.

New Delhi has, nevertheless, sharply refuted Trump’s assertions each time.

In the Parliament last week, Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh said that the May 10 ceasefire agreement following Operation Sindoor, a targeted Indian military response to the Pahalgam attack, was a bilateral decision reached through direct military talks with Islamabad. He strongly dismissed the U.S. President's repeated claims, some 25 times, of mediation and denied any link between India’s de-escalation and potential trade deals with Washington.

“India’s position on Jammu and Kashmir remains unchanged; it is a bilateral issue and not subject to third-party intervention,” Singh stated, adding that India had communicated this clearly to US officials, including Vice President JD Vance.

The Ministry of External Affairs had further clarified that India had already achieved its military objectives by May 8 under Operation Sindoor, including the destruction of terrorist hideouts in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).