In a strategic move in accordance with zero tolerance towards terror organisations the United States of America banned the notorious ‘The Resistance Front’ (TRF) , a proxy of Lashkar-E-Taiba . However, The Resistance Front, should not be understood only as a terrorist organisation rather it is the signal that how the terror outfits are now manoeuvring their strategies and tactics in the changing times . The strategic discourse now has shifted from conventional use of force in the conventional battlegrounds. Now, with the increasing digital footprints and decentralisation of information technology the war fronts has also decentralised . Now war no longer remains in borders, rather the human mind and the societal psyche at large have become new theatres . The terrorist organisations has understood it and they have started to evolve themselves accordingly .
The emergence of Fifth Generation Warfare has forced the terrorist leadership to conduct war in a new format . The Fifth Generation Warfare is a decentralised type of warfare where the lines between the war and peace, combatants and civilians had been blurred . It’s a long term and a complex warfare . In order to defeat the enemy this warfare form takes the advantages of the social faultlines of a society by extensifying and exploiting these faultlines for sake of the purpose of the belligerent . Social Engineering, Propaganda etc are the main tools of this warfare .
The Resistance Front proves to be a classic study of the changing strategies of terror outfits to conduct war against their target by not directly involving in in . The terrorist leaders are now no more the conducting agents of war . Rather they have become the facilitators of war, by providing logistical and strategic support . This manoeuvre have posed a serious challenge in front of the security apparatus .
The Resistance Front (TRF) was formed after the abrogation of Article 370. It initially operated as a online outfit . It’s a strategic manoeuvre by Pakistan and its state sponsored terror organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). Because in was the period when Pakistan was facing enormous pressure from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to crackdown on Terror financing modules existing within the geographical and political ambits of Pakistan . From post- 1971 war period the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan has been working on the nefarious design to bleed Bharat through thousand cuts . The formation of various terror fronts and fanning the waves of separatism through different ways such as promoting and sheltering Khalistani terrorism has been a testimony to this strategy . But in the changing scenario the formation of TRF catches the eyes of all . Many of the people may not have known it if it have doesn’t conducted the brutal killings of 26 civilians in Pahalgam of Jammu and Kashmir . The name and the way to conduct its nefarious plans has been a assertion of the fact that terror organisation have changed the module of their operations.
The Resistance Front as the name suggests has infused with the notorious plan to give terrorism a indigenous face within Bharat . The new outfit was not assigned a religious name like the existing one rather in was given a name which carries a global political currency . It uses the social media platforms for the purpose of propaganda against the Bharatiya state and its civilians, radicalising the youth of Jammu and Kashmir and recruitment of cadre for carrying out lethal attacks on civilians as well as armed forces . In was formed by a Kashmiri militant Sheikh Sajjad Gul . Gul was designated as a terrorist by Bharat’s state establishment under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in 2022 . Gul was involved in the assassination of prominent Kashmiri Journalist Shujaat Bukhari and his two PSOs in 2018 . TRF portrays itself as a local resistance movement . It aligns itself with the erstwhile anti-Bharat Kashmir narratives which had once echoed in the valley during Article 370 period ! It conducts terror operations under the garb of resisting oppression by Bhartiya State , rather then engaging in outright terror activities . It applies a strategic approach where it distances itself from dreaded terror outfits like Lashkar-e-Taiba and its leader Hafiz Saeed and presents it activities as as a part of a grassroots resistance action, rather then being involved in the religious terrorism . It propagates a ideology whose notion is centred around that they are making ‘resistance’ against , what they called, the Bharat’s ‘illegal’ occupation of Kashmir . A intelligence report of 2020 indicates that the TRF’s social media handles which are aggressively campaigning against Bharat , features content which can be traced back to locations in Pakistan . The earlier version of its social media handles has been traced back to internet protocol addresses in Pakistan . In the year of 2020, when TRF perpetrated a number of attacks on our armed forces and Pakistan was accused of fomenting these attacks so to save his country’s face, then Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan accused Bharat of trying to “find a pretext for a false flag operation” targeting his country and put emphasis on what he called as the indigenous ‘Kashmiri resistance’ . This whole exercise of Pakistan’s Prime Minister was a attempt to portray that this was a form of terrorism breaded by Bharat !
Understanding this evolved threat where the old format of terrorism was blended with the propaganda tactics, the Ministry of Home Affairs in 2023 designated it as a terrorist organisation and banned it under UAPA, 1967. The notification reads “TRF is recruiting youth through online medium for furtherance of terrorist activities and has been also involved in carrying out propaganda on terror activities, recruitment of terrorists, infiltration of terrorists and smuggling of weapons and narcotics from Pakistan into Jammu and Kashmir .” Describing the menace of psychic operations being conducted by TRF the notification further reads “TRF is involved in psychological operations on social media platforms for inciting people of Jammu and Kashmir to join terrorist outfits against the Bhartiya State .”
In order to understand the propaganda tactics being employed by the TRF to justify its terror one must go through its propaganda materials being disseminated by the front itself . For example on May 22, 2022 it issued a threat letter to kill the Amarnath yatra pilgrims on the ground of a false propaganda that the Amarnath yatra was being used to change the demographic patterns of the state . The letter reads “It has come to our knowledge that the fascist regime is pumping RSS Sanghis in the name of Amarnath Yatra into the valley just to disrupt the situation just there during this yatra .” It further states “ We want to make it clear if this yatra is used for political and demographic gains then we at Resistance Front will do our best to hinder such filthy schemes of Fascist Sanghi Regime.” And justifying their potential act of killing the letter reads “We will openly target any stooge who becomes a pawn of this fascist Sanghi Regime and the blood of such stooges and pawns will spell like anything everywhere from Jammu to Kashmir.” Designating Bharatiya State as “Fascist”, “Sanghi” etc had a strategy to discredit the Bhartiya State among the local populace !
TRF’s narratives often emphasise the alleged human rights violations by Indian security forces, aiming to exploit grievances and rally local youth to its cause. The organisation uses to frequently release statements and videos glorifying its activities and neutralised terrorists by terming hem as martyrs, using sophisticated media strategies to spread its message and recruit new members .
The need of the hour is to understand the fact that proxy fronts like The Resistance Front poses a significant challenge in front of our security apparatus because it was a testimony of the fact that apart from conventional killings, the terror outfits, at the same time are carrying out sophisticated propaganda war against the establishment . The Bhartiya establishment although has understand this fact and it has been preparing for this new age warfare . The hour calls for the implementation of a elastic defence strategy to deal with this emerging threat in a efficient way .
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