What is The Resistance Front, the militant group linked to Pahalgam attack?
Here are some facts about the group.
WHAT IS TRF?
TRF emerged in 2019 and is considered an offshoot of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, a Delhi-based think tank. Islamabad denies it supports any terror groups.
Indian security officials said TRF uses the name Kashmir Resistance on social media and online forums, where it claimed responsibility for Tuesday's attack in Indian Kashmir's Pahalgam area.
Lashkar-e-Taiba, listed as a foreign terrorist organization by the United States, is the group accused of plotting attacks in India and in the West, including the three-day assault on Mumbai in November 2008.
'This is basically a front of the LeT. These are groups which have been created over the last years, particularly when Pakistan was under pressure from the Financial Action Task Force and they were trying to create a pattern of denial that they were involved in terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir,' said Ajai Sahni, head of the South Asia Terrorism Portal.
WHAT HAS THE GROUP DONE?
The group has not previously had any large incidents attributed to it, according to Sahni.
'All TRF operations are essentially LeT operations. There will be some measure of operational freedom as to where they hit on the ground, but the sanction would have come from the LeT,' Sahni said.
WHAT DOES INDIA SAY ABOUT TRF?
India's interior ministry told parliament in 2023 that the group had been involved in the planning of killings of security force personnel and civilians in Jammu and Kashmir.
The group also coordinated the recruitment of militants and the smuggling of weapons and narcotics across the border, the ministry said.
Intelligence officials told Reuters that TRF had also been issuing online threats against pro-India groups for the past two years.
WHAT DOES PAKISTAN SAY?
Pakistan has denied that it supports and funds militants in Kashmir, saying it offers only moral and diplomatic support.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab News
24 minutes ago
- Arab News
Pakistan's capital imposes ban on public gatherings ahead of protest by Imran Khan's party
ISLAMABADA: Islamabad's district administration has imposed a ban on public gatherings under Section 144 ahead of a planned nationwide protest by former prime minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party on Tuesday, warning that all those found involved in 'illegal activities' would be arrested immediately. Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) empowers district administrations to issue orders in public interest that may place a ban on a gathering of four or more persons for a specific period of time. The section has been used frequently in the past by Pakistani authorities to crack down on anti-government protests. The development took place as Khan's PTI party plans to stage a countrywide protest today, August 5, coinciding with the second anniversary of the former prime minister's incarceration. Khan, who was ousted in a no-confidence vote in 2022, remains in prison facing multiple charges he claims are politically motivated. His party leaders say they are protesting to demand his release from prison and their basic rights being denied by the government. 'Section 144 is in effect in the federal capital,' the Islamabad deputy commissioner was quoted as saying in a statement released by his office on Monday. 'Under Section 144, all forms of gatherings or assemblies are prohibited.' The deputy commissioner warned that strict legal action would be taken in case of any violation of Section 144, urging citizens not to take part in any illegal activity. Speaking to private news channel Geo News on Monday night, Pakistan's Minister of State for Interior Tallal Chaudry said the government believes it is the PTI's right to protest peacefully. He blamed Khan's party for not contacting the government and seeking permission to hold protests across various parts of the country, including the central jail in Rawalpindi where Khan is imprisoned. 'They [PTI leaders] should take us into confidence, it is their right to protest under the ambit of the law, and they have that right to protest under certain conditions,' the minister said. Khan has been in jail for two years on a slew of charges that he says are politically motivated. His PTI party has held frequent protests demanding his release and frequently agitated against the Pakistani government over what it says were rigged general elections in February 2024 and a campaign to subdue PTI supporters since his ouster from the PM's office in April 2022. Pakistani authorities deny Khan's allegations, accusing the ex-premier and his party of leading violent anti-government protests in the past, particularly in May 2023 and Nov. 2024. On May 9, 2023, frenzied mobs across the country carrying flags of Khan's party attacked government and military installations, while a protest in November to demand Khan's release killed four troops during clashes, officials say. The PTI denies instigating followers to violence and accuses the military and its political rivals of resorting to rights abuses against its supporters. They both deny the charges. Khan, who was believed to have been brought into power by Pakistan's powerful military, fell out with the generals in the months leading to his ouster from the prime minister's office. His party accuses the military, which has ruled Pakistan for nearly half of its history and holds sway in politics even when not in power, of colluding with Khan's rivals to keep him out of politics. The military and Khan's rivals deny this.
Arab News
an hour ago
- Arab News
Modi and Trump once called each other good friends. Now the US-India relationship is getting bumpy
NEW DELHI: The men shared bear hugs, showered praise on each other and made appearances side by side at stadium rallies — a big optics boost for two populist leaders with ideological similarities. Each called the other a good India, the bonhomie between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump was seen as a relationship like no other. That is, until a series of events gummed up the Trump's tariffs and India's purchase of oil from Russia to a US tilt toward Pakistan, friction between New Delhi and Washington has been hard to miss. And much of it has happened far from the corridors of power and, unsurprisingly, through Trump's posts on social has left policy experts wondering whether the camaraderie the two leaders shared may be a thing of the past, even though Trump has stopped short of referring to Modi directly on social media. The dip in rapport, some say, puts a strategic bilateral relationship built over decades at risk.'This is a testing time for the relationship,' said Ashok Malik, a former policy adviser in India's Foreign White House did not immediately respond to a message seeking tensions over trade and tariffsThe latest hiccup between India and the US emerged last week when Trump announced that he was slapping 25 percent tariffs on India as well as an unspecified penalty because of India's purchasing of Russian oil. For New Delhi, such a move from its largest trading partner is expected to be felt across sectors, but it also led to a sense of unease in India — even more so when Trump, on social media, called India's economy 'dead.'Trump's recent statements reflect his frustration with the pace of trade talks with India, according to a White House official who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity to describe internal administration thinking. The Republican president has not been pursuing any strategic realignment with Pakistan, according to the official, but is instead trying to play hardball in doubled down on the pressure Monday with a fresh post on Truth Social, in which he accused India of buying 'massive amounts' of oil from Russia and then 'selling it on the Open Market for big profits.''They don't care how many people in Ukraine are being killed by the Russian War Machine. Because of this, I will be substantially raising the Tariff paid by India to the USA,' he messaging appears to have stung Modi's administration, which has been hard-selling negotiations with Trump's team over a trade deal by balancing between India's protectionist system while also opening up the country's market to more American goods.'Strenuous, uninterrupted and bipartisan efforts in both capitals over the past 25 years are being put at risk by not just the tariffs but by fast and loose statements and social media posts,' said Malik, who now heads the India chapter of The Asia Group, a US advisory firm .Malik also said the trade deal the Indian side has offered to the US is the 'most expansive in this country's history,' referring to reports that India was willing to open up to some American agricultural products. That is a politically sensitive issue for Modi, who faced a yearlong farmers' protest a few years appears to be tilting toward PakistanThe unraveling may have gained momentum over tariffs, but the tensions have been palpable for a while. Much of it has to do with Trump growing closer to Pakistan, India's nuclear rival in the May, India and Pakistan traded a series of military strikes over a gun massacre in disputed Kashmir that New Delhi blamed Islamabad for. Pakistan denied the accusations. The four-day conflict made the possibility of a nuclear conflagration between the two sides seem real and the fighting only stopped when global powers it was Trump's claims of mediation and an offer to work to provide a 'solution' regarding the dispute over Kashmir that made Modi's administration uneasy. Since then, Trump has repeated nearly two dozen times that he brokered peace between India and Modi, that is a risky — even nervy — territory. Domestically, he has positioned himself as a leader who is tough on Pakistan. Internationally, he has made huge diplomatic efforts to isolate the country. So Trump's claims cut a deep wound, prompting a sense in India that the US may no longer be its strategic insists that Kashmir is India's internal issue and had opposed any third-party intervention. Last week Modi appeared to dismiss Trump's claims after India's Opposition began demanding answers from him. Modi said that 'no country in the world stopped' the fighting between India and Pakistan, but he did not name has also appeared to be warming up to Pakistan, even praising its counterterrorism efforts. Hours after levying tariffs on India, Trump announced a 'massive' oil exploration deal with Pakistan, saying that some day, India might have to buy oil from Islamabad. Earlier, he also hosted one of Pakistan's top military officials at a private Sundar Chaulia, an expert at New Delhi's Jindal School of International Affairs, said Trump's sudden admiration for Pakistan as a great partner in counterterrorism has 'definitely soured' the mood in said 'the best-case scenario is that this is just a passing Trump whim,' but he also warned that 'if financial and energy deals are indeed being struck between the US and Pakistan, it will dent the US-India strategic partnership and lead to loss of confidence in the US in Indian eyes.'India's oil purchases from Russia are an irritantThe strain in relations has also to do with had faced strong pressure from the Biden administration to cut back its oil purchases from Moscow during the early months of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Instead, India bought more, making it the second-biggest buyer of Russian oil after China. That pressure sputtered over time and the US focused more on building strategic ties with India, which is seen as a bulwark against a rising threat to penalize India over oil, however, brought back those Sunday, the Trump administration made its frustrations over ties between India and Russia ever more public. Stephen Miller, deputy chief of staff at the White House, accused India of financing Russia's war in Ukraine by purchasing oil from Moscow, saying it was 'not acceptable.'Miller's remarks were followed by another Trump social media post on Monday in which he again threatened to raise tariffs on goods from India over its Russian oil purchases.'India is not only buying massive amounts of Russian Oil, they are then, for much of the Oil purchased, selling it on the Open Market for big profits. They don't care how many people in Ukraine are being killed by the Russian War Machine,' Trump experts, though, suspect Trump's remarks are mere pressure tactics. 'Given the wild fluctuations in Trump's policies,' Chaulia said, 'it may return to high fives and hugs again.'India says it will safeguard its interestsMany expected India to react strongly over Trump's tariff threats considering Modi's carefully crafted reputation of strength. Instead, the announcement prompted a rather careful response from India's commerce minister, Piyush Goyal, who said the two countries are working toward a 'fair, balanced and mutually beneficial bilateral trade agreement.'Initially, India's Foreign Ministry also played down suggestions of any strain. But in a statement late Monday, it called Trump's criticism 'unjustified and unreasonable' and said it will take 'all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security.'It said India began importing oil from Russia because traditional supplies were diverted to Europe after the outbreak of the Ukraine conflict, calling it a 'necessity compelled by global market situation.'The statement also noted US trade with Russia.'It is revealing that the very nations criticizing India are themselves indulging in trade with Russia,' the statement said.
Arab News
an hour ago
- Arab News
Pakistan calls on international community to urge India to halt ‘human rights crimes' in Kashmir
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday called on the international community to urge New Delhi to stop 'human rights crimes' in Indian-administered Kashmir, reiterating that demanding a swift resolution to the disputed territory's issue remains a key pillar of Islamabad's foreign policy. The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) released Sharif's statement on the occasion of 'Youm-e-Istehsal,' or Day of Exploitation, observed annually in Pakistan on August 5 against the revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government in 2019. Pakistan has been marking the day since August 5, 2020. The Himalayan territory has been disputed by nuclear-armed neighbors India and Pakistan since they both secured independence in 1947 from British colonial rule. The two countries have fought two of their three wars over the region, and both claim it in full but rule it in part. Pakistan accuses India of occupying Kashmir and denying its people their right to self-determination, jailing its political activists and journalists. It regularly calls on India to abide by the United Nations Security Council resolutions and hold a transparent plebiscite in the territory. India, on the other hand, accuses Pakistan of arming and funding militant separatists in the part of Kashmir it administers. Islamabad has denied the allegations and says it extends only diplomatic and moral support to the people of Indian-administered Kashmir. 'On this day, I wish to reiterate that seeking a just resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute remains a key pillar of our foreign policy and call upon the international community to urge India to halt its human rights crimes in IIOJK; reverse its unilateral and illegal actions of 5 August 2019; repeal the draconian laws; and implement the UN Security Council resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir,' Sharif's message read. Sharif condemned the imprisonment of Kashmiri activists and politicians Shabbir Ahmed Shah, Muhammad Yasin Malik and Masarrat Alam Bhatt, saying it would never 'dim the resolve' of the people of Kashmir. 'The continued defiance of Kashmiris in an environment of unending intimidation across the illegal Indian occupation is more proof of the indomitable courage of the Kashmiri people,' he noted. India and Pakistan engaged in the worst fighting in decades between the two countries in May after New Delhi blamed Islamabad for supporting an attack in Indian-administered Kashmir on April 22 that killed 26. Pakistan denied it was involved and called for an international probe into the incident. The two countries attacked each other with missiles, fighter jets, drones and artillery fire before US President Donald Trump brokered a ceasefire on May 10. The four-day conflict had killed over 70 people on both sides of the border. 'India's unprovoked aggression against Pakistan in May 2025, and its swift and comprehensive military defeat are only the latest evidence of the urgent need for the international community to ensure that resolution of the Kashmir dispute becomes a global priority,' Sharif said. The Pakistani prime minister said the denial of basic human rights for the people of Kashmir was a 'recipe of regional instability.' 'Pakistan reaffirms its unflinching stance and moral, political and diplomatic support to its Kashmiri sisters and brothers till the realization of their inalienable right to self-determination,' Sharif concluded. Pakistan's military said in a separate message that it supports the 'legitimate and ongoing struggle' of the Kashmiri people for their inalienable right to self-determination as enshrined in international law and UN Security Council resolutions.
