Proscribed as a terror outfit by India, the Kashmir Resistance Force (TRF) is an off shoot of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). It consists of the cadres from both LeT and Hizbul Mujahideen. The group came into existence post the abrogation of Article 370 (special status, or autonomy, granted under Article 370 of the Indian constitution to Jammu and Kashmir) in 2019.
While the TRF claims to be an indigenous Kashmiri resistance group fighting for the freedom of Jammu and Kashmir from India, it is evident that it receives logistical support and financial aid from the Pakistani intelligence ISI while backed by the LeT. In the farce of portraying itself as an insurgent rebellion group in line with the fake Pakistan’s narrative of atrocities of India on the Muslims in Kashmir, the outfit has carried several targeted attacks on Hindus, government employees, local labourers, business owners, local politicians, tourists and Indian security forces in the area of Jammu and Kashmir. Being an offshoot of the LeT, it is evident that the group’s primary objectives have been to challenge India's sovereignty over Jammu and Kashmir while viewing Kashmir as part of its larger jihadist agenda. According to reports, LeT has expressed its intent to use Kashmir as a base of operations to wage war in India to bring in a “Muslim rule to the Indian subcontinent."
Through its publications, the LeT has consistently stated the destruction of India, Hinduism, Christianity and Judaism. The outfit professes jihad as a moral obligatory duty for all Muslims. It stated a clear modus operandi to wage jihad until its objectives are fulfilled i.e. installing Islam as the dominant religion, forcing non-Muslims to pay jizya, exacting revenge for Muslims, punishing enemies for violating oaths and treaties, defending all Muslim states, while recapturing occupied Muslim territory. Through its deluded comprehension, the group talks about a pan-Islamist rationale for military action against all non-Islamic states . According to Christine Fair’s analysis, since 1995, the outfit has condemned what it describes as a “Brahmanic-Talmudic-Crusader” alliance of Hindus, Jews, and Christians, which the terror group claims to undermining the Ummah.
The followers or the offshoots of LeT advocate the ideologies of the South Asian group Ahl-e-Hadith (AeH) Islam.
LeT considers the United States, India, and Israel as “existential enemies of Islam”, hence it expected for TRF to comply on similar principles or ideologies.
TRF, like LeT, serves its own jihadist agenda while catering to ISI ‘s Ghazwa-e-Hind against India. This serves to attain its goals through maximising the opportunities to acquire resources, logistics and funds through common interests, which would be impossible for a more recently formed group with a limited cadre.
In the past, TRF was known to use non-religious symbolism, in regards to its logos, statements to project a secular image, while continuing to attack religious minorities. However, this approach has transitioned to a more jihadist transition since its claimed attack on 22 April 2025 on tourists visiting Pahalgam. ( https://www.thestrategicperspective.org/op-eds/pahalgam-terror-attack/ )
Over 28 people were reported dead and more than a dozen injured. Besides the Indian Hindu nationals who were killed, two foreign citizens, one from the UAE and one from Nepal were also amongst them. In the gruesome turn of events the 4 assailants reportedly checked the identities of the victims and even resorted to humiliate the hostages by asking them to undress to verify if the individuals were Muslims and non-Muslims, before being shot dead. The killings were carried executioner style while some victims were expected to recite the Kalima (sacred Islamic expression of faith) and shot dead if they failed to do so.
It is imperative to mention that the attack followed a week after Pakistan’s army chief, Asim Munir’s anti Hindu India rant while referring to Kashmir as Pakistan’s “jugular vein”. ( https://www.thestrategicperspective.org/op-eds/south-se-asian-schmooze/ )
At the same time, two weeks prior to the attack, Home Minister Amit Shah on his three-day tour of Jammu and Kashmir stated that an electronic surveillance system would be installed along the India-Pakistan border and then on the India-Bangladesh border to bolster border security. The Indian government has tried to augment economic development and normalcy in J&K by promoting tourism and opening additional venues for employment of the locals. However, the inability to avert a terror attack in J&K would cause the expected reaction to the knowledge of instability.
The orchestrated attack by the TRF may be comprehended as an act to display the fault lines in the Indian security, while dissuading the growth of tourism in the region by rendering it to a conflict zone.
Lastly, the outfit sought to provoke a reaction from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. The timing of the attack also coincided with the visit of US Vice President JD Vance and his family to India. Parallels can be drawn to the time when the former US President Bill Clinton and his daughter visited India 25 years ago. Similar to the case of Vance’s visit, Clinton’s visit was suggestive of growing relations between India and US.
With India emerging as an important player in the Middle East, Pakistan’s slowly weakening relationship with Saudi Arabia may be an additional factor for Pakistan’s desperation to paint India in a poor light. Furthermore, the Kashmir matter does not resonate with Riyadh which views it as a bilateral issue.
The TRF which is considered as a fairly new group, has carried a number of attacks:
5 April 2020: Two TRF militants killed five Indian PARA SF before being eliminated, in Keran.
18 April 2020: TRF militants attacked Indian forces, killing three and injuring two, in Sopore.
3 May 2020: Five Indian security forces personnel, killed by two TRF terrorists who were neutralised later.
5 May 2020: four CRPF personnel and one disabled local civilian killed while five CRPF personnel were injured.
21 May 2020: TRF militants attacked a CRPF/JKP party, killing two personnel and leaving one injured.
8 June 2020: TRF militants assassinated a Kashmiri Pandit village chief (sarpanch).
1 July 2020: TRF militants attacked Indian forces.
8 July 2020: TRF militants killed a local politician, along with his father and brother.
25 September 2020: TRF carried assassination of a local lawyer, Babar Qadri.
6 October 2020: TRF attacks local politician, killing PSO of the BJP leader. One TRF militant also killed.
30 October 2020: TRF attacks BJP workers.
8 November 2020: in an encounter with Indian security forces, three TRF terrorists were killed.
23 December 2020: TRF attacked CRPF by launching a grenade attack, killing two and injuring another.
31 December 2020: local jeweller, Satpal Nischal, was assassinated by the TRF.
19 February 2021: two local policemen in Srinagar were killed by TRF.
29 March 2021: TRF killed a policeman and two councillors at a meeting of municipal councillors from the BJP in Sopore.
1 April 2021: TRF militants kill a policeman during an attack on a politician's house.
22 June 2021: TRF assassinated an officer from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
27 June 2021: A police officer was killed along with his wife and daughter by the outfit.
7 August 2021: TRF militants killed a local police officer and injured another officer.
5 October 2021: TRF assassinated Makhan Lal Bindro, a Kashmiri Pandit businessman, in Srinagar.
7 October 2021: two teachers from the Hindu and the Sikh community were killed a school in Srinagar.
9 October 2021: TRF killed two policemen.
13 September 2023: 2023 Anantnag encounter
9 June 2024: 2024 Reasi attack
22 April 2025: Pahalgam attack
The MHA banned the TRF under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in 2023.
The outfit has been identified as being tech savvy, seen utilizing body cameras like the GoPro to shoot attacks on the CRPF and the military in Kashmir, while using social media platforms to spread their word and attract fresh recruits. It was reported that the first batch of recruits were trained in Pakistan and travelled on legitimate passports and returned via Wagah.
In August 2021, Security neutralised a TRF commander known as Abbas Sheikh, wjo was a resident of Kulgam, in an encounter in Srinagar. In May 2024, Basit Dar an ‘A’ category terrorist of the TRF, involved in more than 18 cases was also eliminated in a counter-terrorism operation in May 2024.
