‘State funeral for terrorists in Pakistan': Foreign Secy slams Pakistan's links to TRF, LeT, and JeM leaders

The Hindu

08-05-2025

Pakistan's links to a number of UN-designated terror groups have been exposed in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor, officials said on Thursday (May 8, 2025).
This not only includes The Resistance Front (TRF) that claimed responsibility for the Pahalgam attack, but also the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and Falah-i-Insaniyat-Foundation (FIF), whose leader Hafiz Abdur Rauf led prayers for the dead in Muridke, as well as Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), whose leader Masood Azhar reportedly lost several members of his family in the Indian Air Force strikes, including his brother and JeM commander Abdul Rauf Azhar.
Draped in Pakistan flag
At a press conference in Delhi, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri showed a photograph of Abdur Rauf, a U.S. designated terrorist, leading prayers for those killed in the strikes on the LeT's headquarters in Muridke, about an hour away from Lahore. Abdur Rauf, a local cleric who openly campaigns for Pakistan to annexe Kashmir, was seen in videos on Wednesday flanked by military officers, even as those killed inside the LeT/FIF complex were given 'state honours', draped in the Pakistan national flag,
'If only civilians were killed in these attacks, I wonder what message this picture actually sends to all of you,' Mr. Misri said, as the MEA released a photo from the funeral. 'As far as we are concerned, the individuals eliminated at these facilities were terrorists. Giving terrorists state funerals may be a practice in Pakistan. It doesn't seem to make much sense to us,' he added.
Follow Operation Sindoor updates on May 8
Designated terrorists
'Hafiz' Abdur Rauf was named a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the U.S. Treasury on November 24, 2010. The FIF, a fundraising offshoot of the LeT that claimed to be a charitable organisation, was banned by the U.S. Secretary of State on the same day, after detailed groundwork by India in the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks that led to a number of terror listings. According to the U.S. Treasury website, Abdur Rauf worked directly under LeT chief and Mumbai attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed, and was its chief fundraiser and spokesperson. Hafiz Saeed is also on both the U.S. and UN lists of international terrorists.
The ruling BJP announced that Abdul Rauf Azhar had been killed, amongst several family members, in the strikes on Bahawalpur, site of JeM headquarters. According to a note that could not be verified, Masood Azhar had named his sister and other relatives who died in the strikes, expressing sorrow over their deaths.
Rauf Azhar, the operational commander of the JeM, was the mastermind of the IC-814 hijacking in 1999, that ended with the Indian government releasing Masood Azhar, along with terrorists Omar Sheikh Saeed (convicted for killing journalist Daniel Pearl), and Mushtaq Zargar in Kandahar in exchange for hostage passengers. Since then, the JeM leadership has been responsible for several attacks, including the Parliament attack in 2000, Pathankot airbase attack in 2016 and the 2019 Pulwama bombing. While the JeM and Masood Azhar have been designated terrorists by the UN Security Council, China blocked India's attempts to list Abdur Rauf in the 1,267-strong list for sanctioned terrorists. The U.S had also put him on its Special Designations list in December 2010, adding that he trained recruits for suicide bombings in India.
Push for financial sanctions
During his briefing, Mr. Misri said that Pakistan had itself exposed its links to the TRF, that had twice claimed responsibility for the Pahalgam attacks where 26 men were killed, before backtracking from the claim. He said India has reported the TRF's activities to the UN 1267 Monitoring team on a number of occasions, adding that it was 'interesting' that Pakistan insisted on omitting TRF's name from the UNSC resolution passed on April 25. In the Pakistani parliament on April 29, the Pakistan Deputy PM and Foreign Minister had himself made the claim that he had 'watered down' the UNSC draft proposed by the U.S., deleting reference to the TRF, and changing the 'Government of India' to 'all relevant authorities' in Jammu Kashmir. India is expected to push for the UNSC to designate the TRF as a terrorist group.
During an all-party meeting in Delhi on Thursday, Opposition members called for India to ask the U.S. to designate the TRF as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO) as well as push to bring Pakistan back on the Financial Action Task Force's (FATF) grey-list for allowing designated terrorists to operate freely in the country despite sanctions against them.