Exploration of Armed Organizations | The Resistance Front
New Delhi, India - A chilling message posted on Telegram chats echoed throughout the city as news of the deadliest attack on Indian-administered Kashmir's tourists in ages swept through social media platforms and news outlets. This time, the attack was claimed by the little-known armed group, The Resistance Front (TRF).
On a peaceful, sun-kissed afternoon in the Baisaran meadow of Pahalgam town in Kashmir, tourists found themselves in the line of fire when gunmen burst from the nearby forest. The men, armed with automatic rifles, gunned down at least 26 tourists and injured over a dozen more. All the victims were male.
The Indian home minister, Amit Shah, rushed to Srinagar as grief-stricken world leaders, including US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, showed their sympathies. Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to social media to vow that "those behind this heinous act will face justice and will not evade it."
Before this fateful day, armed rebels, who had been battling for Kashmir’s secession from India for years, had generally refrained from targeting tourists. The TRF, though, had other plans.
In a message that surfaced on its Telegram channel, the TRF denounced the granting of residency permits to "outsiders," a move critics claim could alter the disputed region's demography. "Violence will be directed at those attempting to settle illegally," the message declared.
While the intended targets were not tourists, the group's decision to use Telegram to take responsibility for the attack did not come as a shock to security officials. After all, this is how the TRF established itself in the region in the first place.
The group, often referred to as the "virtual front" within the Indian security apparatus, rose from the ashes of India's decision to unilaterally revoke Kashmir's partial autonomy in August 2019 and impose a months-long clampdown. As part of the government's reorganization efforts, domicile status—permitting land-owning rights and access to government-sponsored job quotas—was extended to non-locals, fueling speculation that the Pahalgam attack was in retaliation.
TRA slogans and names, such as "Resistance till Victory," showcase a separatist agenda that could be seen as a clean break from traditional Kashmir rebel groups, most of which bear Islamic names. According to Indian intelligence agencies, however, the TRF is an offshoot, or even a front, of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a Pakistan-based armed group India claims is aided by Pakistan. Pakistan, on the other hand, maintains it provides only diplomatic and moral support to the Kashmiri people.
By 2020, the TRF had begun claiming responsibility for minor attacks, such as targeted killings of individuals. Its ranks have been fortified by fighters from multiple splinter rebel groups, with Indian security agencies busting several TRF groups. Despite casualties, the group has not only survived but grown. By 2022, a majority of the armed fighters killed in gunfights in Kashmir were affiliated with the TRF, government records reveal.
The group also drew attention when it named Kashmiri journalists on a "traitor hit list" for supposedly colluding with the Indian state. At least five of the journalists named resigned immediately due to the history of such attacks. Shujaat Bukhari, a prominent Kashmiri journalist and editor of the Rising Kashmir publication, was assassinated on June 14, 2018, outside his office in Srinagar. The Kashmir police have attributed the killing to the Lashkar-e-Taiba.
In June 2024, the TRF also claimed responsibility for an attack on a bus carrying Hindu pilgrims, killing at least nine people and injuring 33, in Jammu's Reasi area. The bus plummeted into a gorge during the attack.
As TRF made its presence known with deadly attacks, it employed a mix of both old and new strategies. Its English name and social media presence stood out, yet it leaned on traditional methods. Before the TRF, Kashmiri rebel commanders adopted more open personas on social media, posting videos of themselves enjoying leisure activities in Srinagar. This approach led to an increase in recruitment.
Since the 2019 crackdown, however, this approach no longer worked. With the arrival of TRF fighters, the tried-and-true methods were once again adopted. The faces of the rebels were concealed again, attacks became more frequent, and their intensity grew sharper.
The group's leadership under Mohammad Abbas Sheikh—reportedly a Kashmiri fighter who joined the rebellion in 1996—focused attacks on Srinagar. Following Sheikh's death in 2021, as well as the deaths of many other armed rebels in the subsequent year, TRF retreated with its fighters to jungles higher up in the mountains, according to central intelligence officials.
In January 2023, the Indian government declared the TRF a terrorist organization, citing recruitment of rebels and the smuggling of weapons from Pakistan into Kashmir. The rebels, according to the police and intelligence officials, were well-trained but largely stayed in their high-altitude hideouts.
Some experts believe that the Indian security and intelligence agencies were taken by surprise by the attack, and that the outcome demonstrates shortcomings in the Modi government's Kashmir policy. Modi and Home Minister Shah have repeatedly referred to "normalcy" in Kashmir since the region's semi-autonomous status was revoked in 2019. This assurance and the promotion of tourism by the Indian government drew Kailash Sethi, a visitor from Jamnagar in the western state of Gujarat, to Kashmir with his family this summer. He is now working desperately to get himself and his family out of the region.
The tour and travel industry has been thrown into chaos as anxious families rush to cancel their bookings and make a hasty retreat. Traffic congested the roads to Srinagar airport, and the cost of flights out of Kashmir soared by more than 300 percent.
Travel and hospitality sector worker Raul, who requested to be identified only by his first name, remains uneasy for the future. “I can feel a crackdown coming, and the increased presence of armed forces in the area,” he said. “Even my clients want to leave Kashmir.”
Experts like Ajai Sahni, executive director of South Asia Terrorism Portal, believe that the "normalcy" narrative pushed by the government is both tragic and harmful, as it encourages groups to mount attacks.
This persistent violence, in turn, feeds into the TRF's primary objective: to disrupt normalization efforts, including non-local investments and policies that grant residency permits to outsiders. As attacks like this one continue, peace in Kashmir remains elusive.
- Breaking news reported the deadliest attack on Indian-administered Kashmir's tourists in years, claimed by a little-known armed group, The Resistance Front (TRF).
- In recent investigations, the TRF has been linked to techniques similar to traditional Kashmir rebel groups, but with a modern twist, using social media platforms like Telegram to take responsibility for attacks and establish themselves in the region.
3.Politics surrounding the granting of residency permits to "outsiders" and the alteration of the disputed region's demography has been a major focus in the TRF's statements, citing violence against those attempting to settle illegally.
- The TRF's resistance to the influx of non-locals is seen as part of their separatist agenda, with connections to terrorist organizations like the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
- Expert analyses suggest that the Indian security and intelligence agencies were taken by surprise by the TRF's attack, raising concerns about shortcomings in the Modi government's Kashmir policy, which assures "normalcy" in the region and encourages tourism.
