Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) offshoot The Resistance Front (TRF), which has been held responsible for killings of Kashmiri Pandits and issuing death threats, has been declared as a “terrorist organisation” and banned in India.
In a notification issued on Thursday, the ministry of home affairs (MHA) declared LeT commander Mohammad Amin alias Abu Khubaib, who coordinates the outfit’s activities in the Jammu region, as an “individual terrorist”.
The decision came just a day after the home ministry declared Aijaz Ahmad Ahanger alias Abu Usman Al-Kashmiri, a resident of Kashmir and operating in Afghanistan, as an “individual terrorist”.
An official order declaring the TRF as a “terrorist organization” attributed a series of terror activities to the outfit.
The TRF, as per police and intelligence agencies, is an offshoot of the Pakistan-based LeT outfit and was created in 2019 by Pakistan following the ban on LeT in India under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).
The ministry’s order said the TRF has been recruiting youth into terrorist ranks through online mediums for the furtherance of terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir.
“The outfit has also been involved in carrying out propaganda on terror activities,” the order read.
It said the TRF is also involved in the recruitment and infiltration of terrorists and smuggling of weapons and narcotics from Pakistan into J&K for fanning terrorism.
“The TRF is involved in psychological operations on Social Media platforms for inciting people of Jammu and Kashmir to join terrorist outfits against the Indian State,” the MHA order read.
It pointed out that Sheikh Sajjad Gul, the TRF commander, has been designated as a terrorist under the fourth schedule of the UAPA.
Asserting that TRF’s activities are detrimental to national security and sovereignty, the ministry said that a large number of cases have been registered against members and associates of TRF.
“The Central government believes that the outfit is involved in terrorism and it has committed and participated in various acts of terror across the country,” the order read.
Recently, TRF issued hit lists of Kashmiri migrant employees posted in the Valley. It has been instrumental in issuing threats to various other people with a view to creating fear psychosis in Kashmir.
In its notification, the ministry said that LeT commander Khubaib has developed a deep association with cross-border agencies and is playing a vital role to revive and accelerate terrorist activities of LeT in the Jammu region. He has been involved in coordinating terrorist attacks, supply of arms or weapons and explosives, and terror financing in J&K from across the border.
Administration can seize and attach properties, bank accounts and other assets, movable as well as immovable, of the cadre of banned outfits. Besides, the administration can explore various options to crush the activities of the banned outfits and individuals.
The decisions came close on the heels of twin terror attacks at Upper Dhangri in Rajouri district in which six civilians of the minority Hindu community, two of them minors, were killed by two terrorists while over dozen others were left injured.