Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar sparked controversy after openly defending The Resistance Front (TRF), a US-designated terrorist organisation, during a speech in the Pakistani Parliament. Dar confirmed that Pakistan, as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, had intervened to block the mention of TRF, a proxy of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), in the UNSC’s condemnation of the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, which killed 26 civilians.
What did Dar say?
Dar admitted to actively lobbying for the removal of TRF references from UNSC statements, framing terrorist attacks as acts of resistance, and offering diplomatic cover to Lashkar-e-Taiba proxies.
“We opposed mention of TRF in the UNSC statement. I got calls from global capitals, but Pakistan will not accept,” Dar declared in a now-viral video. “TRF was deleted, and Pakistan prevailed.”
He further added, “We don’t consider TRF illegal. Show us proof they carried out the Pahalgam attack. Show ownership by TRF. We won’t accept the allegation, and TRF had to be deleted from the UN press release.”
US designates TRF a global terror group
Just days earlier, the United States officially designated TRF as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) group. In a statement released by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the TRF was described as a proxy of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), the terror group behind the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
⚡ Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar defended TRF (a US designated terrorist org), in the Pakistani Parliament and said that as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, Pakistan ensured that the terrorist group was not named in the UN Security Council's Pahalgam… pic.twitter.com/aWCHnDCBka
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Rubio directly linked TRF to the April 22 Pahalgam attack, calling it “the deadliest assault on civilians in India since 2008.” The designation also includes TRF’s aliases and marks an expansion of the US government’s legal and financial crackdown on LeT’s networks.
“These actions demonstrate the Trump administration’s commitment to protecting our national security interests and seeking justice for victims of terrorism,” Rubio said.
The TRF has claimed responsibility for multiple attacks on Indian soil, particularly targeting security forces in Jammu and Kashmir. Intelligence assessments in both India and the US have repeatedly flagged the group’s operational and financial links with Lashkar-e-Taiba.
The decision to designate TRF followed rising diplomatic calls, including from Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, who urged a “zero-tolerance” approach to terrorism at the recent Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) foreign ministers’ meeting.