The tourist paradise of India, Jammu and Kashmir was a witness to one of the worst terrorist attacks on Tuesday (April 22), when three terrorists holding assault rifles gunned down 27 tourists in Pahalgam, a popular tourist destination. The responsibility for the attack was claimed by The Resistance Front (TRF).

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Emergence of proxy organisations

The organisation is not an isolated entity but a proxy of the banned Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba. In January 2023, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had declared the TRF a “terrorist organisation” under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) after the organisation issued threats to journalists in Kashmir.

In recent years, newer outfits such as TRF, PAFF (People's Anti-Fascist Front), and United Liberation Front (ULF) have emerged shedding their Islamist labels of LeT or Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). 

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They appear secular, political in their rhetoric but are proxy arms of Pakistan-based jihadist groups and tread the same path.

Why the rebranding by Pakistani terror outfits?

This can be termed as a very thoughtful move by the terrorist organisations and Pakistan as Islamabad is under immense pressure from global watchdogs like the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to crack down on terror financing and dismantle the infrastructure of jihadist outfits like Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), who have been designated terrorist organisations by the United Nations, United States and other major countries.

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Once declared a terrorist organisation these terror outfits face severe financial restrictions. It also puts Pakistan under immense diplomatic pressure.

Thus, in order to evade the international scrutiny, Pakistan has begun to promote proxies, who could still give shape to their motive of carrying out terror activities in India, particularly the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. 

In an interview to Moneycontrol, Dr Shalini Chawla, Distinguished Fellow at Centre for Air Power Studies (CAPS) said, "TRF was created post abrogation of Article 370 and was strategically not given a religious identity. Why not Lashkar, though it is a shadow of Lashkar, because of the fact that at that time, Pakistan was under the FATF grey list and were under the scrutiny for terror financing and other things. So, this was a move which was basically designed to avoid scrutiny of FATF."

The move has allowed Pakistan to deny its role in any such attacks and escape international scrutiny and imposition of restrictions.

The Pahalgam attack

In one of the deadliest attacks in Jammu and Kashmir in the recent past, 26 tourists were gunned down by terrorists in the Baisaran meadow on Tuesday (April 22). Known as ‘mini-Switzerland', Baisaran is located at a distance of 5 kilometres from the main centre of Pahalgam.

The meadow is accessible only by foot or ponies and is also a popular trekking location. The rugged, steep, difficult to traverse terrain made it a likely target by terrorists.