India has intensified efforts at the United Nations to designate The Resistance Front (TRF), a proxy of the Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), as a UN-listed terrorist organization. An Indian delegation held high-level meetings in New York with officials from the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) and the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED).
TRF had claimed responsibility for the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, which left 26 people dead. In response, India launched “Operation Sindoor,” targeting terror infrastructure across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
This is the first time since Operation Sindoor that New Delhi has raised TRF with the UN and its anti-terror bodies.
The Indian technical team met with the Monitoring Team of the UN Security Council's 1267 Sanctions Committee, as well as other partner countries. According to sources, they also held talks with Under-Secretary-General Vladimir Voronkov (UNOCT) and Assistant Secretary-General Natalia Gherman (CTED).
In a joint readout provided to PTI, the UN officials expressed condolences over the Pahalgam attack and highlighted ongoing collaboration with India to implement Security Council counter-terrorism resolutions and the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy.
"The discussions with the Indian delegation focused on ongoing collaboration with CTED and UNOCT within their respective mandates, particularly in support of implementing key Security Council counter-terrorism resolutions and the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy," the readout said.
It added that key areas of cooperation include UNOCT-led technical capacity-building initiatives supported by India such as cybersecurity, countering terrorist travel, supporting victims of terrorism, and countering the financing of terrorism.
India’s renewed push comes in the wake of the UN Security Council’s April 25 press statement, which strongly condemned the Pahalgam attack but omitted any reference to TRF reportedly due to pressure from Pakistan.
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri confirmed that TRF had claimed responsibility and criticized Pakistan’s efforts to obscure its role.
Misri noted that India has repeatedly submitted evidence about TRF’s links to LeT to the UN Monitoring Team, including in its biannual reports in May and November 2024, and again in December 2023.
(With inputs from PTI)