The Resistance Front: the terror outfit driving India-Pakistan to war – Asia Times

The Resistance Front: the terror outfit driving India-Pakistan to war – Asia Times

26 travellers were killed on April 22 in a hotel in the lovely Pahalgam, injuring India. The murder is regarded as the deadliest tourist attack in Indian-administered Kashmir since 2000.

As thousands of people flocked to the popular tourist destination during the apex of the holiday season, the attack occurred. With the exception of one Egyptian federal, the majority of the victims were Indians. All of the patients were people.

Pakistan has denied any involvement, but there are major concerns about an increase between the two nuclear power. Rajnath Singh, India’s defence minister, openly accused Pakistan and threatened to sue Pakistan, saying,” We will not only targeted those who carried out the assault. We’ll even take aim at those responsible for this scheme on our soil.

India has suspended the monument Indus Waters Treaty, which allows the posting of waters between the two nations, and barred Pakistan’s officials from entering the country.

Given that these problems occur at a time when significant international and domestic occasions occur, it is noticeable. In light of the raging trade conflict between the US and China, the US vice president, J.D. Vance, arrived the day before with his Indian-American family Usha and their three children. Importantly, Pakistan has a history of referring to China as an all-weather ally and friend.

The Waqf ( Amendment ) Act, which seeks to change how billion-dollar-plus properties, including mosques, madrassas, graveyards, and orphanages, are run, comes a few weeks after the Indian government passed it.

Additionally, this action is accused of tarnishing the rights of India’s Muslim communities by allowing the nomination of non-Muslims to their board and judges.

Entrance of Opposition

The Entrance of Opposition (TRF) has claimed responsibility for the attack. A hitherto lesser-known armed group in the Kashmir region, TRF emerged in 2019 with the aim of fighting for Kashmir’s secession from India.

The Indian government designated it as a terrorist organization in 2023 under the Unlawful Activities ( Prevention ) Act, and Sheikh Sajjad Gul, the group’s founder, was made a terrorist.

Treatment was established in large part as a result of the American government’s decision to revoke Kashmir’s once-only Muslim-majority state’s semi-autonomous standing in 2019. Jammu &amp, Kashmir, and Jammu & Kashmir are the two union lands that the Modi government has currently undergone and has given it more clear governmental control.

The action also made it possible for non-locals to have access to government-sponsored employment quotas and more landownership rights. These modifications could significantly alter the demography of the area and prevent citizens of much-needed opportunities.

The group stated in a text on the messaging apps Telegram that “violence will be directed at those attempting to live fraudulently.” This tends to support the notion that the attack’s flow of “outsiders” was its justification.

In its brief existence, TRF has carried out numerous attacks against local officials, safety personnel, and residents. Social media is where the organization started and continues to concentrate on it to manage and recruit new members.

Importantly, TRF differs from the region’s traditional insurgent groups, the majority of whom have Muslim names. It allegedly does so in order to put a “neutral” ( read non-religious ) front on the front, rather than focusing on the struggle for Kashmiri nationalism.

Was Pakistan included?

Inter-Services Intelligence ( ISI), a Pakistani spy agency, is reportedly connected to the organization. These connections have not been proven by Pakistan. However, experts worry that any reprisals could rise and threaten the fragile stability along the border between the two nations.

Importantly, it is believed that the TRF is an offshoot of or perhaps just a front for the Pakistan-based armed group Lashkar-e-Taiba ( LET ).

The LeT participated in numerous terrorist attacks on American soil, most notably the 2008 Mumbai criminal attacks, which reportedly resulted in the deaths of 176 people. Many people, including the US state, are of the opinion that the perpetrators of the crime were assisted by the ISI.

Although it is not specifically linked to the Pahalgam harm, it is worth noting that Tahawwur Rana, a French citizen who was suspected of being the mastermind of the Mumbai attacks, was deported to India on April 10 from the US. Rana will face trial in India on ten legal charges, according to a statement from the US Embassy in New Delhi.

The LeT ( which is pronounced Army of the Righteous/Pure ) is a Sunni terrorist organization in contrast to the TRF’s purported “neutral” ostensibly non-Islamist nature. Its main objectives are to build an Islamic state in Central Asia and pieces of South Asia, with Kashmir a key component of its objectives.

Since its emergence in the early 1990s, the organization has focused on attacking martial and civil targets in Kashmir while supporting Pakistan’s say to the area.

Bill Clinton, the then-US chairman, described South Asia as the most dangerous place on Earth in the late 1990s. This may well be the situation once more given the possibility of an India-Pakistani conflict that is quickly advancing.

University of Bradford associate professor of peace reports and international development, M. Sudhir Selvaraj

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