TRF statement on Pahalgam attack uploaded from Pakistan: Sources

The statement of The Resistance Front (TRF), an alias of Pakistani terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), claiming responsibility for the Pahalgam terror attack, was uploaded from Pakistan, security sources told The Federal.

The terror outfit issued another statement on Saturday, denying its involvement in the attack.

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Sources said the denial came since the first statement provided more evidence of the involvement of Pakistani elements in the Pahalgam attack of April 22, in which 26 people, most of them tourists, were killed by terrorists.

First statement

The first TRF statement said more than 85,000 domiciles have been issued to non-locals, creating a pathway for demographic changes in Jammu and Kashmir. These non-locals arrive posing as tourists, obtain domiciles, and then begin to act as if they own the land, it said.

“These fighters know how to pick a place of attack and what kind of weapons to use. They shun technology and have better stamina to hide in a place for a very long period,” said a source when asked about the choice of the Baisaran meadows in Pahalgam for carrying out the attack.

Consequently, violence will be directed toward those attempting to settle illegally, it further said.

“Cyber analysis shows that the statement was uploaded from Pakistan. Hence, a denial has come now,” a security source told The Federal.

The denial stated: “Shortly after the attack in Pahalgam, a brief and unauthorised message was posted from one of our digital platforms. After an internal audit, we have reason to believe it was the result of a coordinated cyber intrusion, a familiar tactic in the Indian state’s digital warfare arsenal. We are conducting a full investigation to trace the breach, and early indicators suggest fingerprints of Indian cyber-intelligence operatives.”

Sources said the TRF has claimed killings on the issuance of domicile certificates earlier, too. The Lashkar front killed a jeweller, Satpal Nischal, in January 2021 as he had gotten a domicile certificate to buy land in Srinagar.

4 assailants involved

Sources said the Pahalgam attack was carried out by four attackers only. There are clues about their identification but nothing can be said for certain right now.

Per local police data, there are around 130 terrorists active in the valley at present and, among them, only 14 are locals. However, among the foreign terrorists, a majority — at least 70 — are battle-hardened fighters from Afghanistan-Pakistan border areas, who have earlier fought against the NATO forces in Afghanistan.

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“These fighters know how to pick a place of attack and what kind of weapons to use. They shun technology and have better stamina to hide in a place for a very long period,” said the source when asked about the choice of the Baisaran meadows in Pahalgam for carrying out the attack.

Massive manhunt on

Security forces have been relentlessly hunting for the terrorists who attacked tourists in Baisaran.

“We know they are in the valley and have not been able to cross the Line of Control (LoC) to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). We will hunt them down sooner than later,” said a security official, speaking on the condition of anonymity.