Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said he pushed to omit mention of terror outfit The Resistance Front (TRF) from a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) press statement that condemned the deadly Pahalgam terror attack.
Speaking in Pakistan’s National Assembly on Tuesday, Dar revealed that Islamabad used its position as a non-permanent member of the Council to alter the language in the US-proposed statement, which originally named and shamed TRF, a proxy of proscribed terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba.
A UNSC press statement is an announcement that all 15 member countries have agreed on. For a press statement to be released, every single member of the Security Council has to give their approval to the final text.
“On behalf of Pakistan, I had two objections [to the statement]. First, only Pahalgam was mentioned and secondly, the blame was put on The Resistance Forum,” Dar said, using an alternate name for TRF. “I thought this was not acceptable. You have to write Jammu and Kashmir along with Pahalgam.”
TRF emerged after India revoked Article 370 in 2019, which had granted special autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir. Dar claimed the outfit was merely a “forum” formed by the local population, rejecting its classification as a terror group.
Dar claimed this led to a back-and-forth over the UNSC statement, particularly with the United States. “I gave clear instructions to our ambassador at the UN to ensure the amendments are made,” he said.
The Pakistani minister said that for TRF to be singled out in the press release, evidence should be presented. He also alleged that reports in the media that TRF claimed responsibility for the horrific attack were all lies.
According to Dar, the process to finalise the statement took 2.5 days as Pakistan refused to accept the initial draft. “I received phone calls from big capitals to come to a consensus on the draft, but I told them nothing doing,” he said.
Ultimately, Pakistan’s objections were reflected in the final press statement issued by the UNSC.
The Council “condemned in the strongest terms” the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir but did not mention Pahalgam or the name of any terror group. The rest of the statement was standard fare.
The 15-member Council reaffirmed that “terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security,” and stated that acts of terrorism are “criminal and unjustifiable,” regardless of motivation or perpetrators.
It stressed that those responsible for this “reprehensible act of terrorism” – from perpetrators to sponsors and financers – must be held accountable and brought to justice.
