A statement attributed to The Resistance Front (TRF), which has gone viral on social media, has distanced the outfit from the Pahalgam terror attack and blamed Indian agencies for hacking into its website to pin the blame on it.
The TRF had earlier reportedly claimed responsibility for the April 22 attack that had killed 25 tourists and a local and injured over a dozen others.
The Telegraph could not independently verify the authenticity of either of the purported statements by the TRF.
The latest statement attributed to the TRF and widely shared by the pro-BJP handles on social media said it “unequivocally denies any involvement in the Pahalgam incident”.
“Any attribution of this act to TRF is false, hasty, and part of an orchestrated campaign to malign Kashmiri resistance,” the statement said.
It claimed the outfit was investigating the breach of its digital platform and that preliminary findings hinted at the involvement of Indian cyber intelligence operatives.
The alleged TRF statement also claimed the “chaos” was manufactured for “political gains”, suggesting it was an insider job. It said it was not the first time Indian intelligence was doing so.
Police have blamed Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) for the attack and released sketches of three suspected militants who had allegedly carried out the attack. The TRF is believed to be a front for the LeT.
“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 coordinated cyber intrusion — a familiar tactic in India’s state digital warfare arsenal,” the purported statement said.
The earlier statement attributed to the TRF said it took credit for the Pahalgam attack, and it was a wake-up call not only for the Indian government but also those who supported Delhi’s questionable strategies.
That statement had accused India of giving domicile status, jobs and government contracts to non-locals as reasons for carrying out the attack.