India Welcomes US Listing of The Resistance Front as Global Terrorist Outfit

India is glad that the US Department of State has named The Resistance Front (TRF), a group that works with or supports Lashkar-e-Taiba in Pakistan, as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT). This is part of a larger attempt by Washington to boost cooperation in the fight against terrorism as things become more unstable in South Asia.

TRF has been active since about 2019 and has claimed credit for several attacks in Jammu and Kashmir. These include the April 22 Pahalgam massacre, in which 26 civilians, mostly tourists, were killed by heavily armed militants. This was India's deadliest attack on civilians since the 2008 Mumbai attacks. After this horrible event, TRF at first took blame, but later changed its mind. The Indian government banned the TRF in January 2023 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, calling its leader, Sheikh Sajjad Gul, a terrorist.

In reaction to the US statement, India's External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said that the designation was a "strong affirmation" of the two countries' work together to fight terrorism and emphasized that they had "zero tolerance for terrorism." The Indian Embassy in Washington agreed with these feelings and praised what it called "another demonstration of strong India–USA counterterrorism cooperation."

From Washington, DC, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the listing meets former President Trump's earlier call for justice after the Pahalgam attack and shows that the US is committed to fighting terrorism around the world. The US label is meant to freeze TRF's assets around the world, make helping it illegal, and block its transportation networks.

How and why TRF came to be

The TRF was created in late 2019 after the Indian government lifted Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir. This was done in part to hide its ties to Lashkar-e-Taiba and avoid international penalties and scrutiny. Since then, the group has become a major player in Kashmir's insurgency. They claim credit for attacks on civilians and security forces, such as the deadly incidents in Reasi and Pahalgam and the fights in Keran and Handwara.

Implications for strategy and politics

India's Foreign Minister said that the US move was part of a shared strategic vision and a joint front against "terrorist networks based in Pakistan." Delhi has said many times that Islamabad is using non-state militant groups like TRF to achieve geopolitical goals in Kashmir, but Pakistani officials strongly reject all of these claims.

The US move to put TRF under the same sanctions as Lashkar-e-Taiba makes it much easier to break down the group's foreign financial and operational networks.