The Resistance Front (TRF)

Overview

The Resistance Front (TRF) is a militant organisation that announced its existence on 12 October 2019 via the encrypted messaging platform Telegram, approximately two months after the Indian government's abrogation of Article 370 on 6 August 2019, which removed Jammu and Kashmir's semi-autonomous constitutional status. The timing of TRF's emergence was not coincidental — the group was formed as a vehicle for renewed militancy in the changed political environment following the reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories.

TRF is assessed by Indian, US, and independent analysts as a front organisation and operational proxy of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), the Pakistan-based terrorist group responsible for the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Three of TRF's key leaders — Sajid Jatt, Sajjad Gul, and Salim Rehmani — are directly associated with LeT. The group is also assessed to maintain links with Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence directorate. Despite these connections, TRF deliberately adopted a secular, nationalist name and framing, avoiding the explicitly Islamic branding of older Kashmiri militant groups such as Jaish-e-Mohammed or Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, in a calculated effort to present itself as an indigenous Kashmiri resistance movement rather than a Pakistani-directed proxy.

Operational History

TRF first attracted significant public attention in October 2019 when it claimed a grenade attack in Srinagar's Lal Chowk, injuring eight civilians. From 2020 onwards, the group expanded its operations to include targeted killings of minorities, civilians, and those it accused of collaboration with Indian authorities. In December 2020, TRF claimed the killing of a jeweller in Srinagar, justifying the murder through posts on Facebook. In October 2021, TRF's Shaheed Gazi Squad shot dead Supinder Kaur, the principal of a government school, and teacher Deepak Chand in Srinagar — asking victims to identify their religion before opening fire, a pattern of deliberate sectarian targeting that would recur in subsequent attacks.

The group issued threats against RSS leadership in Jammu and Kashmir in April 2024. By this period, Indian security forces had recorded 131 arrests and killings of individuals linked to TRF operations. TRF cells are typically small — five to ten operatives — and favour hit-and-run ambushes, sniper attacks, and IED strikes. The group has made extensive use of social media for recruitment, propaganda, and claiming operations, distinguishing it from older militant organisations.

On 22 April 2025, TRF claimed responsibility for the Pahalgam tourist attack in Baisaran Valley, Anantnag, in which gunmen killed 26 tourists — the majority Hindu civilians — after selectively identifying their religion. The attack was the deadliest assault on Indian civilians since the 2008 Mumbai attacks. TRF subsequently retracted its claim, alleging the claim had been posted by hackers; Indian intelligence services rejected the retraction as disinformation.

Ideology

TRF's adoption of a secular, nationalist name represents a strategic communication choice rather than a genuine ideological departure from its parent organisation. By avoiding explicitly Islamic nomenclature, TRF sought to reframe the Kashmir conflict as a matter of anti-colonial resistance rather than religious warfare — a framing designed to appeal to a broader audience and complicate Indian government characterisations of the insurgency as foreign-backed jihadism. The Observer Research Foundation noted this as a deliberate tactic to exploit the changed political landscape post-Article 370.

In practice, TRF's operational patterns — targeted killings of Hindus, Sikhs, and others identified as religious minorities, combined with the involvement of Pakistani nationals and LeT commanders — reflect the ideological priorities of its parent organisation rather than a secular nationalist agenda. The Pahalgam attack's explicit religious profiling of victims was consistent with LeT's documented sectarian targeting methodology.

Designation Status

India listed TRF under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act as a terrorist organisation. On 17 July 2025, the United States State Department designated TRF as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and added it as an alias to the existing LeT designation under the Immigration and Nationality Act and Executive Order 13224, formally recognising the organisational link between TRF and LeT. The designation followed the Pahalgam attack and the resulting India-Pakistan military crisis of May 2025. Sajjad Gul, identified as TRF's head and the alleged mastermind of the Pahalgam attack, is separately listed as a designated individual.