Dar Takes U-Turn, Says has “No Objection” to US Declaring TRF a “Terrorist Organisation”
NEW DELHI, July 26: Taking a total U-Turn, Pakistan foreign minister Mohammd Ishaq Dar has approved the move of the United States to declare “The Resistance Front (TRF), which initially had claimed responsibility for the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, a “terrorist organisation.”
He, however, disfavoured linking the TRF with the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Last week, Mr Dar had openly defended TRF after the US designated it as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation. However, in a significant shift, Dar on Saturday backed the US decision to label it as a “terrorist organisation.” Speaking at an event in Washington, he said, “It is 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.”
The TRF, a proxy of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), had initially claimed responsibility for the Pahalgam terror attack that claimed the lives of 26 people, but later it withdrew its claim. Mr Dar had earlier asserted that TRF had not carried out the attack, despite the group’s public claim of responsibility.
Mr Dar said he had “no objection” to the US designating the group as a terrorist organisation, but linking TRF with Lashkar-e-Taiba was “wrong”. Dar repeated a claim often made by the Pakistani government and said, “That outfit was dismantled years ago by Pakistan. The actors were prosecuted, arrested and jailed, and the entire outfit was destroyed.”
India had pressed for TRF to be recognised as a terrorist outfit internationally, since 2023. It had submitted evidence and representations to the UN’s 1267 Sanctions Committee monitoring team in May and November 2024. India had designated TRF as a terrorist organisation under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in January 2023. According to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, TRF emerged in 2019 through social media announcements, and since then, has taken the responsibility for several attacks across Jammu and Kashmir.
Dar met US Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier on Friday. “Met with Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister @MIshaqDar50 today to discuss expanding bilateral trade and enhancing collaboration in the critical minerals sector. I also thanked him for Pakistan’s partnership in countering terrorism and preserving regional stability,” Marco Rubio posted on X. Pakistani Foreign Minister had also said the two countries were very close to a trade deal and it could come within days.
(Manas Dasgupta)
