What is the TRF, and since when has it been active? What are the terror activities it has claimed responsibility for? We explain.
The Resistance Front is a militant outfit active in Jammu and Kashmir born as an off-shoot of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LrT). TRF began as an online entity in the aftermath of the abrogation of Article 370 and revocation of special status to Jammu and Kashmir. According to the police, based out of Karachi, after about six months of gaining traction online, the organisation took shape on the ground as an amalgam of different organisations including Tehreek-e-Millat Islamia and Ghaznavi Hind, apart from the Lashkar.
A senior security official said that in order to avoid scrutiny under the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the rebranding had to be done in a manner that suggested a people’s movement rather than an outfit with a religious colour to its name. Other “proxies” were also floated but TRF remained most active.
“Lashkar and Jaish-e-Mohammad had religious connotations and Pakistan did not want that. They wanted to make Kashmir militancy appear indigenous. Hence, they opted for ‘Resistance’ — that has some currency in global politics — in its name,” the senior official said.
Therefore, in post 2019 Kashmir, the aim was to project ‘resistance’ in a popular sense to bring distance from an Islamic name and give it a neutral character.
Since when has the TRF been active in J&K?
The organisation started taking responsibility for attacks in 2020. Different attacks would be perpetrated through the valley but only the TRF claimed responsibility, as opposed to the traditional organisations active in Kashmir — Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad and the Hizbul Mujahideen.
The first signs of TRF emerging as a growing militant group were visible when the J&K Police busted a module of over ground workers (OGWs) in Sopore – the town was a strong Lashkar base in the Valley before it yielded its position to Hizbul Mujahideen and Jaish-e-Mohammad — and Kupwara. The police recovered a cache of arms and ammunition dumped by militants near the Line of Control (LoC) at Keran. The arrested OGWs revealed they were “recruiting youth for the new outfit”.
How active is the outfit currently in J&K?
Projected as an indigenous movement, TRF’s leadership included Sajid Jatt, Sajjad Gul and Salim Rehmani, all part of Lashkar. Officials said that the strategy to have TRF claim all attacks was deliberate in order to deflect attention from the LeTR and other groups who were under the purview of the FATF. However, existing LeT channels are used for funding and supply of logistics for the TRF.
“They came with an active social media presence and were providing an intellectual discourse to the militant movement,” an official said.
In its annual data, the J&K Police noted that the maximum number of militants killed in the valley in the year 2022 belonged to the TRF or LeT at 108, followed by Jaish at 35. Additionally, out of the 100 individuals who joined militant ranks this year, 74 joined the group.