Self-declared TRF chief wanted; NIA announces Rs 10 lakh reward on Basit Dar [details]

The National Investigation Agency, NIA, has announced fresh reward of Rs 10 lakh for any information leading to the arrest of hardcore terrorist of proscribed terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Toiba's frontal organisation, The Resistance Front (TRF). The renewed reward has been announced in case 2/2021/NIA/DLI registered against Basit Ahmed Dar of Redwani Payeen, Kulgam in south Kashmir.

"The identity of the informer who gets him arrested shall be kept a secret," NIA has assured.

Who is Basit Dar?

Basit Sheikh Dar of Redwani Payeen, Kulgam in south Kashmir is a hardcore terrorist, who declared himself chief of TRF after the notorious organisation's chief Abbas Sheikh was gunned down by the security forces in August 2021. Basit was the mastermind behind the serial killings of civilians in October.

Crackdown on TRF

The Ministry of Home Affairs' (MHA) declared TRF as a terrorist organisation in a final crackdown planned by the government to wipe out the outfit and its cadre responsible for issuing threat lists against Kashmiri Pandit employees and local journalists.

Intelligence agencies say that TRF is an offshoot of the Laskar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist group.  Accoding to the MHA, TRF has been recruiting youth into militancy through online media for furtherance of terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir. The outfit has also been involved in carrying out propaganda on terror activities. TRF is involved in recruitment and infiltration of terrorists and smuggling of weapons and narcotics from Pakistan into J&K for fanning terrorism.

"TRF is involved in psychological operations on social media platforms for inciting people of Jammu and Kashmir to join terrorist outfits against the Indian State," the notification stated.

"The Central government believes that the outfit is involved in terrorism and it has committed and participated in various acts of terror across the country," the MHA asserted.

The TRF came into existence in 2019 as a proxy outfit of the LeT. The threats issued by TRF on its social platform Kashmirfight.com are meant to create a fear psychosis in the Valley. In addition to issue threats against the migrant government employees, TRF has also threatened local journalists including editors of local newspapers.

(Additional agency inputs included)