Pakistan’s foreign minister Ishaq Dar claimed linking TRF to Lashkar is incorrect and emphasised that Pakistan has dismantled the group years ago.
Pakistan’s foreign minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar defended Islamabad’s stance on the proscribed terror group The Resistance Front, shortly after the United States listed the outfit as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO). The Resistance Front – which India and the United States believe is an offshoot of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba – claimed responsibility for the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22.
“It is obviously a sovereign decision of the United States to designate the TRF. We have no issue. And we welcome, if they have any evidence, that they are involved,” said Dar at an event in Washington DC. Dar met US secretary of state Marco Rubio earlier on Friday.
“Linking the TRF to the Lashkar-e-Taiba is wrong. That outfit was dismantled years ago by Pakistan. The actors were prosecuted, arrested and jailed, and the entire outfit was destroyed,” said Dar, repeating a claim often made by Pakistan’s government.
Earlier, Dar told Pakistan’s Parliament that Islamabad had blocked mention of the TRF in a UN Security Council Resolution which condemned the Pahalgam attacks.
“We opposed the mention of TRF in the UNSC statement. I got calls from global capitals, but Pakistan will not accept. TRF was deleted, and Pakistan prevailed,” said Dar in April.
Dar added at the time that Pakistan would require further proof about the TRF’s activities.
Dar defended that stance in response to a query from HT at a public event on Friday. Pakistan’s foreign minister said no evidence was available at the time against the TRF to justify its inclusion in a UNSC statement.
India declared TRF a terrorist organisation under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in January 2023. The South Asia Terrorism Portal indicates that TRF emerged in 2019 via social media announcements, and since then, it has taken responsibility for several attacks across Jammu and Kashmir, including a grenade attack in Srinagar, injuring seven civilians and targeted killings in 2021.
