External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Wednesday that Indian diplomacy had succeeded in getting the UNSC Monitoring Team to accept that The Resistance Front (TRF) is a terrorist entity.
In his address in Rajya Sabha during the debate on Operation Sindoor, Jaishankar highlighted the UNSC report and said that in the last decade, Indian diplomacy with regards to terrorism has seen a huge leap.
“Today when people say- ‘Where was Indian diplomacy?’ Indian diplomacy has been successful in getting America to declare TRF as a global terrorist organization, in getting the UNSC Monitoring Team to accept that TRF today is a terrorist entity, in getting BRICS- most of which are difficult countries- to getting BRICS even to make, to recognize the seriousness of Pahalgam…” he said.
Jaishankar said that after the attack in Uri, there was a surgical strike and Operation Sindoor took place after the Pahalgam attack.
“When people say cross-border terrorism, what border do they mean? Does justice have to be spelt out? The point is that in the last decade, there has been a huge change in India. This change on the ground was demonstrated in Uri, after Uri, in a surgical strike, it was demonstrated in 2019 in the airstrike and it is today demonstrated through Operation Sindoor,” the Union Minister said.
Jaishankar said that BRICS, in a recent meeting collectively condemned the Pahalgam terror attack.
“We just had a BRICS Meeting. For the first time, we were able- in a BRICS Meeting- to get an explicit reference to a terrorist incident. It says, “We condemn in the strongest terms- the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir on April 22 and we reaffirm our commitment to combating terrorism in all forms and manifestations including cross-border terrorism,” he said.
Jaishankar said that in contrast, the BRICS meeting after 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, did not specifically note the terrorist attack.
“In contrast, to tell you the change in the last decade, in 2009, there was a BRICS meeting. It was the first BRICS meeting after the Mumbai 26/11 attack. There is not even a reference of the Mumbai terrorist attack. All it says is, “We strongly condemn terrorism in all forms and manifestations. We reiterate that it has no justifications,” he said.
In a diplomatic victory for India, the report of the Monitoring Team (MT) of the UNSC 1267 [ISIS (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida] Sanctions Committee explicitly recorded the involvement of the The Resistance Front (TRF), a proxy outfit of Lashkar-e-Tayyiba in the Pahalgam terror attack of 22 April 2025, where 26 civilians were killed.
The UNSC Report states, “On 22 April, five terrorists attacked a tourist spot in Pahalgam, in Jammu and Kashmir. Twenty-six civilians were killed. The attack was claimed that same day by The Resistance Front (TRF), who in parallel published a photograph of the attack site. The claim of responsibility was repeated the following day. On 26 April, however, TRF retracted their claim. There was no further communication from TRF, and no other group claimed responsibility.”
The report highlighted that relations between the LeT and TRF could not be ruled out, and the region remained at risk of being exploited by the terrorists.
“Regional relations remain fragile. There is a risk that terrorist groups may exploit these regional tensions. One Member State said the attack could not have happened without Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT, QDe.118) support, and that there was a relationship between LeT and TRF,” the UN report stated.”Another Member State said that the attack was carried out by TRF, who was synonymous with LeT. One Member State rejected these views and said LeT was defunct,” the UNSC monitoring team report stated.
Earlier this month, the US Department of State designated TRF as a terrorist organisation. In a statement issued by the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the US accorded the TRF as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) and Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT).
“TRF and other associated aliases have been added to LeT’s designation as a FTO and SDGT pursuant to section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act and Executive Order 13224, respectively. The Department of State has also reviewed and maintained the FTO designation of LeT. Amendments to FTO designations go into effect upon publication in the Federal Register,” the statement added.
