LeT proxy The Resistance Front declared a terror group, banned by Centre; was responsible for attacks on Kashmiri Pandits & migrant workers in J&K

New Delhi, Jan 6: The Ministry of Home Affairs declared The Resistance Front (TRF), a proxy of the Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba, a banned organisation. Notably, TRF was behind a majority of attacks on civilians, including Kashmiri Pandits and migrant workers as well as security forces in Kashmir, for the past couple of years.

 

 

 

According to a notification of the MHA, the terror group, "is recruiting youth through online medium for furtherance of terrorist activities" and "has been involved in carrying out propaganda on terror activities, recruitment of terrorists, infiltration of terrorists and smuggling of weapons and narcotics from Pakistan into Jammu and Kashmir".

 

The MHA said the LeT proxy is "involved in psychological operations on social media platforms for inciting people of Jammu and Kashmir to join terrorist outfits against Indian state". It also asserted that the activities of TRF are detrimental to the national security and sovereignty of India.

 

 

The MHA said, "A large number of cases have been registered against the members/associates of TRF relating to the planning of killings of security force personnel and innocent civilians of Jammu and Kashmir, co-coordinating and transporting weapons to support proscribed terrorist organisation, terror attack on security forces, killing of innocent persons, etc."

 

The group came into existence in 2019 as a proxy of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba, which was involved in numerous terror acts, including the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.

 

Further, it also said Sheikh Sajjad Gul, commander of The Resistance Front, has been designated as a terrorist under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.

 

The government also designated Mohammed Amin, alias Abu Khubaib, who belongs to J&K but currently lives in Pakistan, as an “individual terrorist”. He has been acting as the launching commander of LeT and has developed a deep association with cross-border agencies and is playing a vital role to revive and accelerate terrorist activities of LeT in the Jammu region.

 

An offshoot of Hafiz Saeed-led LeT, TRF was formed by the former in collaboration with the Pakistan Army and the ISI in 2019 in response to India’s abrogation of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir that gav special status to Jammu and Kashmir.