The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has pieced together a major case on the foreign funding of The Resistance Front (TRF), a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)
proxy that claimed responsibility for the killing of 26 tourists in the Pahalgam attack. Investigators have traced as many as 463 phone calls tied to anti-India elements and extremist supporters. The trail, according to the NIA, leads to Pakistan, Malaysia and Gulf countries—sources of funds that have enabled TRF to expand its terror footprint across the subcontinent. One of the key findings points to Malaysian resident Yasir Hayat, through whom about ₹9 lakh was channelled to the TRF. The agency has also linked the group’s network to Sajid Mir, Lashkar-e-Taiba’s most wanted terrorist. Mobile data, bank transactions, social media chats, and call records have provided further corroboration, officials said. The disclosures come after raids in Srinagar and Handwara, where investigators recovered documents and financial details of TRF’s overseas funding network. In July, the NIA had filed a case against Shafat Wani of Handwara, accusing him of inciting the people there to engage in anti-national activities and getting funds from the TRF. These findings, officials believe, will allow India to present a foolproof case before the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to underline Pakistan’s role as a sponsor of terror. India has been pushing to bring Islamabad back under FATF scrutiny. Sources had earlier said that New Delhi had “enough evidence on Pakistan’s terror funding activities” to press for its re-entry onto the watchdog’s money laundering grey list. Pakistan was first placed on that list in June 2018 for failing to adopt a comprehensive approach to curb terror financing. It was removed in September 2022 after FATF deemed that it had completed its action plan. But being grey-listed had forced Pakistan into tighter financial monitoring, making it harder to secure international loans. Experts noted that any repeat black mark would worsen inflation and compound Islamabad’s debt crisis, especially as aid flows remain under suspicion of misuse.
