New Delhi: The Resistance Front, an affiliate of Lashkar-e-Taiba, has been declared a terrorist organization by the Union Home Ministry. The notification by the Ministry of Home Affairs also said that the TRF campaigned on social media platforms to incite the people of Jammu and Kashmir to join terrorist organizations against the Indian government. TRF commander Sheikh Sajjad Gul has also been declared a terrorist under the fourth schedule of UAPA.
The central government has declared TRF a terrorist organization citing TRF’s recruitment of youth through online media for terrorist activities, terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir, recruitment of terrorists, infiltration of terrorists, and smuggling of arms and narcotics from Pakistan to Kashmir.
Most of the terrorists killed in Kashmir in 2022 are from TRF. Three months ago, the TRF threatened journalists in Kashmir.
Officials clarified that TRF is a new name given by Pakistan to Lashkar-e-Toiba to promote separatism in Kashmir. Both Lashkar and Jaish-e-Mohammed had religious connotations. But in Kashmir, except for that, it was presented with the word “resistance” to promote the indigenous argument, the officials said. The TRF came into existence in 2019 as an affiliate of the banned terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba.
