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PFI: THE TIP OF AN ISLAMIST ICEBERG

PFI came into existence in 2006 as a result of a merger of three Muslim interest groups — Kerala-based National Democratic Front (NDF), Karnataka Forum for Dignity (KFD) and Tamil Nadu-based Manitha Neethi Pasarai (MNP). While its influence is most prominent in Kerala, the PFI has expanded its base across India and now has a presence in almost 23 statesA special report by Ahmed Usman

On September 28, the Union Home Ministry of India banned the Popular Front of India (PFI) and its associate organisations – Rehab India Foundation (RIF), Campus Front of India (CFI), All India Imams Council (AIIC), National Confederation of Human Rights Organisation (NCHRO), National Women’s Front, Junior Front, Empower India Foundation and Rehab Foundation, Kerala for a period of five years.1 These organisations are banned under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act- UAPA, 1967.

A few days back, in one of their biggest joint operations against terror funding and terror activities, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on September 22 arrested 45 activists of the Popular Front of India (PFI) from 93 locations across 15 states, including Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Telangana, Assam, Andhra Pradesh and Delhi, as mentioned in NIA’s official website.

During the coordinated nationwide operation, which began at around 3:30 am, PFI Chairman O M A Salam, national general secretary V P Nasarudeen Elamaram and the organisation’s Delhi unit head Parvez Ahmed, among others, were taken into custody. Salam was picked up from his home at Kerala’s Malappuram in the search operation. Ahmed’s residence in Delhi’s Jamia Nagar was also raided. Sources said documents, cash, sharp-edged weapons, and many digital devices were seized during the raids.

According to the remand report filed by the NIA before Kochi court on September 23, Office-bearers, members and affiliates of the Popular Front of India (PFI) in Kerala encouraged vulnerable youths to join terrorist organisations, including the Lashkar-e-Taiba, Islamic State/Daesh and Al-Qaeda and conspired to establish Islamic rule in India by committing terrorist acts as a part of violent jihad.

PFI came into existence in 2006 as a result of a merger of three Muslim interest groups — Kerala-based National Democratic Front (NDF), Karnataka Forum for Dignity (KFD) and Tamil Nadu-based Manitha Neethi Pasarai (MNP). While its influence is most prominent in Kerala, the PFI has expanded its base across India and now has a presence in almost 23 states, according to the NIA.6 Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), is the political wing of the PFI. A group that many Hindus accuse of spreading Muslim radicalism. Secular activists and moderate Muslim groups, on the other hand, accuse the PFI of breeding a self-defeating victimhood complex among Muslims.

Back in 2018 the National Investigation had prepared a dossier on the PFI and explained why the organisation should be banned. The NIA says that the approach of the PFI is radical in nature. It speaks about recruiting only committed Muslims into its fold. It is trying to run a parallel administration in the NIA states. It speaks about the Darul Khada an outfit comprising Muslim scholars, social workers, and advocates. This was set up in 2009, by SDPI national chief E Aboobacker. The NIA says that they run a parallel judiciary which settles a host of issues. The NIA dossier also states that in July 2009, a Kerala-level declaration was passed by the Darul Khada in Malappuram in which it had called upon the Muslim community not to attend civil courts, but to get all issues sorted out by it.

Amidst countrywide arrests and investigations, many Muslim organisations in India have come out openly in vehement opposition of PFI. All India Muslim Jamaat President, Maulana Shahabuddin Razvi called upon the Muslim community to stay away from the PFI calling it a “radical group” and urged the central government to impose a ban on it. Maulana Razvi welcomed the arrest of the PFI leaders across the country. “PFI is a radical organisation. Its members follow a radicalised ideology. I would appeal to all Sufi and Sunni Muslims to stay away from this organisation. The PFI has been named in many incidents across the country. It is necessary that there should be a ban on these kinds of organisations,” said Razvi.

The All India Pasmanda Muslim Mahaz (AIPMM) has come out openly in support of the action taken by central agencies against PFI members on September 23. “We welcome the move by the government. We deem that this action has been taken to safeguard the country. The views expressed by the PFI are dangerous. The rallies of PFI and its uniform remind us of Hezbollah, a terrorist organisation,” said Muhammad Yunus, Executive Director, AIPMM. Yunus said the PFI put every Muslim of this country under the lens of agencies due to its activities. He also said that PFI has insulted Islam and its teachings with its activities.

Muslim Students’ Organisation of India (MSO) said on September 23, that the PFI’s actions were not in the interest of Islam and the country. The MSO said Muslims in India should help the country in its pursuit of stability and peace. “PFI and such Salafi Wahhabi organisations want to trick them (youth) against the basic ideology of Sufi majority population of the country but this situation is not in the interest of Islam, country and humanity,” it said.

Moreover, MSO appealed to the Muslim youth to stay patient on the action taken on PFI. “If this action (of the central agencies) has been taken for compliance of law and prevention of terrorism, then everyone should be patient on it,” it said, adding that the charges of murder, violence and possession of weapons against those arrested were serious. It however maintained that these allegations must be proved in court.

Two other organisations: Tanzeem Ulema-e-Islam, and Kul Hind Markazi Imam Council also supported the actions taken by NIA. Not only religious organisations, but Muslim politicians are also criticising PFI and its methods. KM Shaji politician belonging to the Indian Union Muslim League, have been very open about his views on PFI. He thus stated, “I oppose PFI and Jamaat-e-Islami because they brainwash Muslim youth in Kerala. They have managed to penetrate the minds of the youth by forming a lot of cultural organisations. The biggest challenge was to convince our community members that their agenda and motives were bad. They never openly confronted us and it created confusion in the community. But, we continued to fight against their agenda within the Muslim community. SDPI’s only path is violence and they don’t have any strong ideological or religious mooring. What SDPI and PFI are propagating in the name of true Islam is wrong. Their view of Quran is not correct. Even their religious vision is not correct.”

Many are of the opinion PFI is the resurrection version of the banned Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) which was involved in several terror attacks in India, including the series of blasts in Mumbai between 2002 and 2003. Many of the PFI founder members were SIMI leaders.12 SIMI, was banned in 2006. SIMI was an Islamist extremist outfit its stated motto was ‘liberation of India through Islam’. Multiple bans and stringent vigil from security agencies compelled the leaders to bequeath SIMI and launched PFI with a similar ideology and intention. There are similar Islamic militant organisations active in Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. They mostly function under the garb of human rights forums.

The PFI, as it tried to portray itself as a grassroots level organisation working for social development is a complete farce. The members of PFI have been involved in gruesome and violent activities in the past. For instance, on July 4, 2010, TJ Joseph head of the department of Malayalam at Newman College in Thodupuzha, Kerala was brutally assaulted and his right arm till elbow were chopped off. He was accused of setting up a  question paper ‘hurting’ the religious sentiments of Muslims.

The PFI members did not have the patience or civility to wait for the proper judicial process that was going against Joseph following Indian law. They took the matter in their own hands.

Also, in Kerala, PFI has been accused of having links with terrorist organisations. An NIA court in Kochi in July, 2022 awarded prison sentences to three men who were convicted in a case pertaining to recruitment to the Islamic State (IS). The case, known as the Valapattanam IS recruitment case, was registered by the Kerala police in 2017 after two of those convicted were arrested in Turkey and subsequently deported to India for trying to sneak into Syria to join IS. The convicted persons were part of the Kannur module of the IS, according to the police. Intelligence agencies estimate that some 40-50 individuals from the Kannur district, mainly from the Valapattanam region, joined the terrorist outfit in Syria.

 According to the police, they were PFI activists. PFI has systematically expanded its support base over the years by floating many front outfits. These include NDF student wing Campus Front of India, often known to act as “moral police”; National Women’s Front that gives thrust to adherence to Muslim dress code by Muslim women; PFI political wing Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI); Sathyasarani, a religious conversion centre; National Confederation of Human Rights Organisation that is reportedly associated with a CPI (Maoist) front; Rehab India Foundation that carried out large scale relief activities in Assam to woo the Muslim population towards PFI; Indian Fraternity Forum, an association of expatriate Indian Muslims, and Muslim Relief Network through which PFI mobilises funds from the Gulf countries; Media Research and Development Foundation that puts out news regarding alleged atrocities on minorities in India; and Darul Khada, a parallel judiciary to settle family, property and personal disputes under ‘shariah’.

It can be summarised that PFI is not only painting an ultra-rightist violent version of Islam, it is also brainwashing and luring Muslim youth for joining dreaded international terrorist organisations. It will not be wrong to say that the PFI is a multi-level body working at the lowest of grassroots and at the same time with a global militant vision of Islam. Despite the horrid outlook of PFI, the Government of India, following the democratic and secular heritage of the country took its time to ban the outfit and declare it a terror organisation under the UAPA. It is evident that the proscription was made after considering all the aspects of the organisation pragmatically and impartially. The series of arrests, investigations and proscription have exposed the tip of an Islamist Iceberg functioning inside India since many years.

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Centre bans PFI, associates for 5 yrs

The notification issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs said PFI and its associates or affiliates have been indulging in unlawful activities, which are “prejudicial to the integrity, sovereignty and security of the country”…reports Asian Lite News

After two rounds of nationwide raids and arrest of over 240 leaders and functionaries of Popular Front Of India (PFI) in a week, the centre last evening banned the outfit for five years over alleged terror activities.

A government notification said the PFI and its affiliate organisations or fronts have been declared “unlawful association” with immediate effect under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

The government cited the outfit’s linkages with Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), Jamat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), and said that PFI is involved in several criminal and terror cases.

The notification issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs said PFI and its associates or affiliates have been indulging in unlawful activities, which are “prejudicial to the integrity, sovereignty and security of the country”, and that they have the potential to disturb public peace and communal harmony.

It said PFI has been pursuing a secret agenda to radicalise a particular section of the society, and that the outfit shows sheer disrespect towards the constitutional authority of the country.

“With funds and ideological support from outside, it has become a major threat to the internal security of the country,” the notification added.

The notification also stated that several criminal activities and brutal murders have been committed by PFI members over the past to create “reign of terror in public mind”.

“In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 3 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (37 of 1967), the Central Government hereby declares the Popular Front of India (PFI) and its associates or affiliates or fronts including Rehab India Foundation (RIF), Campus Front of India (CFI), All India Imams Council (AIIC), National Confederation of Human Rights Organization (NCHRO), National Women’s Front, Junior Front, Empower India Foundation and Rehab Foundation, Kerala as an ‘unlawful association’,” read a notification issued by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.

“Whereas, the Central Government, having regard to the above circumstances, is of firm opinion that it is necessary to declare the PFI and its associates or affiliates or fronts as an unlawful association with immediate effect, and accordingly, in exercise of the powers conferred by the proviso to sub-section (3) of section 3 of the said Act, the Central government hereby directs that this notification shall, subject to any order that may be made under section 4 of the said Act, have effect for a period of five years from the date of its publication in the Official Gazette,” it added.

As per the notification, the PFI is involved in several criminal and terror cases and shows sheer disrespect towards the constitutional authority of the country and with funds and ideological support from outside, it has become a major threat to internal security of the country.

“Investigations in various cases have revealed that the PFI and its cadres have been repeatedly engaging in violent and subversive acts. Criminal violent acts carried out by PFI include chopping off limb of a college professor, cold blooded killings of persons associated with organisations espousing other faiths, obtaining explosives to target prominent people and places and destruction of public property,” it added.

Three states – Karnataka, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh – have recommended a ban on the organisation, the ministry said.

Premises linked to PFI members across 15 states were first raided on September 22, in a coordinated move by National Investigating Agency (NIA), Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the state police, leading to over 100 arrests.

The second round of nationwide crackdown on the organisation was carried out yesterday. A total of 247 arrests have been made so far, officials said.

Besides PFI, it’s associate orgabisations – Rehab India Foundation (RIF), Campus Front of India (CF), All India Imams Council (AIIC), National Confederation of Human Rights Organisation (NCHRO), National Women’s Front, Junior Front, Empower India Foundation and Rehab Foundation, Kerala – have also been banned.

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Home Ministry all set to ban PFI

According to sources, the MHA is also taking legal advice before banning PFI, so that when the party concerned in this matter approaches court, the government remains ready with its move, reports Sanket Pathak…reports Asian Lite News

Days after the NIA and the ED raided several locations linked to the Popular Front of India (PFI) across the country, the Union Home Ministry is planning to ban the extremist group on the basis of the evidences gathered by the investigating agencies, sources said.

However, before imposing the ban, the officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) want to make full preparations, so that if the ban is challenged, then their side is not weakened.

In the raids conducted in 15 states of the country on September 22, the investigating agencies have found strong evidence of PFI’s involvement in terrorist activities, based on which, it can soon be banned.

Soon after the raid, Union Home Minister Amit Shah also held a meeting with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and the NIA Chief. In this, instructions have been issued to review the facts gathered against PFI and take further action.

According to sources, the MHA is also taking legal advice before banning PFI, so that when the party concerned in this matter approaches court, the government remains ready with its move. This is also being done because the central government had to withdraw the ban on SIMI in 2008. However, later it was again banned after the Supreme Court order.

This time, the government donesn’t seem to be in a hurry and leave any stone unturned. And that’s why, it is making its case strong, besides weighing all the legal asepcts before imposing ban on PFI.

According to the information, different agencies were engaged in gathering strong evidence against PFI for many years as instructions were given by the MHA that no link of PFI should be left out. While the NIA’s investigation was focussed on the illegal activities of the criminal organisation, the ED has now been completely successful in tracing the source of their finances.

Barelvi Muslims call for ban on PFI

Meanwhile, the Barelvi Ulema has called for a ban on PFI for its alleged terror-related activities which prompted nationwide raids by NIA, ED and state police at premises linked to its leaders. Maulana Shahabuddin Razvi Barelvi, the president of All India Muslim Jamaat, issued a recorded statement in which he stressed that the raids have made it clear that the Islamist fundamentalist organization has been “involved in communal riots in various states across the country.”

“That’s why, I urge all Sunni, Sufi, and Barelvi Muslims to not keep any relation with this organisation,” he said.

The Barelvi sect from Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly demanded the central government to impose an immediate ban on such organizations to protect the unity and integrity of the country. Maulana Barelvi also supported the action taken by the government to tighten the noose around terror activities across India.

“It is important to ban such organisations,” he said, adding that the actions taken by the government of India have his “full support.”

Muslim organisations appeal to youth

Meanwhile, the arrests of PFI leaders from across the country drew mixed reactions from several Muslim organisations, with many appealing to the youth from the community to remain patient on the action taken by the law enforcement agencies.

All India Tanjim Ulema-e-Islam, Kul Hind Markazi Imam Council and Muslim Students Organisation of India (MSO) have said in their statement that if the action has been taken to comply with the law and prevent terrorism, then everyone should be patient on it.

The organisations said the charges of murder, violence and possession of weapons against the arrested people are serious. However, these allegations have to be proved in court.

Keeping allegations of brainwashing the youth with Salafi Wahhabi ideology against PFI, they said Muslims should help the country in its pursuit of stability and peace.

The organisations added the PFI and organisations of Salafi Wahhabi ideology are basically brainwashing the youth which is not in the favour of Islam, the country and humanity.

These organisations said that they have faith in the judicial system, law and Constitution of the country, according to a tweet in Hindi by the MSO, an apex students and youths’ body of Muslims working on the promotion of Sufism and inclusive India. It is to be noted that All India Tanjim Ulema-e-Islam and MSO met the then home minister Rajnath Singh in 2018 and first demanded a ban on PFI.

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Over 100 PFI members arrested in nationwide NIA, ED raids

Sources further said that the Union Home Ministry was monitoring the entire crackdown which was being carried out with the support of the local police in the various states…reports Asian Lite News

Over 100 top leaders and functionaries of the Popular Front of India (PFI) were arrested on Thursday morning in a nationwide crackdown against terrorist activities.

According to sources, the searches were carried out by the National Investigation Agency and Enforcement Directorate at several locations across 13 states including Bihar, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana.

In what is being termed the “largest ever investigation process till date”, sources in the NIA said that searches were conducted in the residential and official premises of people involved in terror funding, organising training camps and radicalising people to join proscribed organisations.

The maximum number of arrests were made in Kerala (22) followed by Maharashtra and Karnataka (20 each), Andhra Pradesh (5), Assam (9), Delhi (3), Madhya Pradesh (4), Puducherry (3), Tamil Nadu (10), Uttar Pradesh (8) and Rajasthan (2).

Sources further said that the Union Home Ministry was monitoring the entire crackdown which was being carried out with the support of the local police in the various states.

According to the charge-sheet filed by the ED, PFI has formed District Executive Committee in UAE, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and other places to raise funds. Targets are given to individuals to collect cash and transfer the same through Hawala or camouflaged as genuine business transactions.

The ED during investigation analysed more than 600 domestic contributors and their bank accounts and also looked at accounts of more than 2,600 beneficiaries. The agency has found that many of these accounts were bogus and people on ground were not found during physical verification, the agency stated.

One of the beneficiaries of this money was Anshad Baseudeen. He was arrested by UP ATS with IED’s, pistol and live cartridges. PFI has transferred Rs. 3.5 lakh from the account of PFI. This shows PFI was involved in terror activities, the ED stated in the charge-sheet.

The NIA had, earlier this week, carried out searches at over 40 locations in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana linked to PFI, following which four people were detained. Incriminating materials, including digital devices, documents, two daggers, and cash worth over Rs 8 lakh had been seized.

Meanwhile, PFI members staged protests in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka against the arrests.

“The raids are taking place at the homes of national, state and local leaders of PFI. The state committee office is also being raided. We strongly protest the fascist regime’s moves to use agencies to silence dissenting voices,” the PFI said in a statement.

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