Pahalgam’s villain TRF added to US terror list, Pakistan isolated at global level; what is the role played by Jaishankar and Tharoor?
New Delhi: Almost 3 months after the brutal terrorist attack in Pahalgam, terrorist organization The Resistance Front (TRF) has been put in the list of global terrorist organizations by the US. In this attack on 22 April 2025, the terrorists of The Resistance Front massacred 27 people. TRF is the new avatar of Pakistan’s notorious terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba. This organization had taken responsibility for the Pahalgam attack.
What did Jaishankar and Tharoor do?
Now the US Department of Home Affairs has included TRF in the list of Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) and Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT). This move of America is a diplomatic victory for India. In this, the role of External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, who went to America on an outreach mission on behalf of India, was important. It is worth noting that after the Pahalgam attack, India launched Operation Sindoor and carried out fierce targeted counterattacks on Pakistan.
After this, Pakistan’s Army Chief Asim Munir did a lot of lobbying in Pakistan. He kept distancing Pakistan from this attack and kept talking about an independent and impartial investigation.
How did India turn things in its favour?
India’s diplomacy forced America to accept that TRF is a terrorist organization. After the Pahalgam attack, India adopted a strategy to isolate Pakistan on the global platform. For this, India sent its delegations to West Asia, America, Russia and Europe and exposed Pakistan’s misdeeds.
After the Pahalgam attack, India took this issue to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). Here India provided evidence of TRF’s involvement in the Pahalgam attack, documents related to TRF’s leaders, funding source and network. Foreign Minister S Jaishankar accused Pakistan of making terrorism a part of state policy and appealed to the international community to take it seriously. The result of his diplomacy was that many member countries of the United Nations supported the demand for giving severe punishment to the culprits of the Pahalgam attack.
The Foreign Minister made it clear that India-Pakistan tension is not only a bilateral issue, but a question of global security. He held bilateral talks with the US Secretary of State and the US State Department and strongly put forward India’s case for listing TRF as a terrorist organization.
What was Shashi Tharoor’s role in the US?
Shashi Tharoor drew the attention of America and the international community towards the threat of Pakistan-sponsored terrorism and the activities of TRF. Tharoor especially targeted the China-Pakistan alliance in America. Tharoor said that China had tried to remove the name of TRF, which was involved in the Pahalgam attack, from the United Nations resolution. He raised the same issue in Brazil and said that China is constantly protecting Pakistani terrorists. He reminded America about Osama bin Laden hiding in Pakistan so that the US administration and Trump could also be made aware of Pakistan’s double policy. His effective lobbying inspired American policymakers to support India’s anti-terrorism stance.
Getting the TRF in the US terrorist list was a diplomatic victory for India in which Jaishankar’s firm strategy and Tharoor’s effective advocacy on international fora played an important role. This move proved helpful in isolating Pakistan at the global level.
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