Hours after the Centre banned the Popular Front of India under the stringent provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the PFI on Wednesday announced disbanding of the Islamic outfit. Abdul Sattar, Kerala general secretary of the now-banned PFI, was nabbed from Karunagappally after he posted on the outfit’s Facebook page that “as law-abiding citizens of the country, the organisation accepts the decision of the Ministry of Home Affairs”.
In the post, he said that all of its members and the public are being informed that “PFI has been disbanded” on account of the outfit being declared banned by MHA. Sattar, who was allegedly absconding after calling for a state-wide ‘hartal’ on September 23 against nationwide raids on the outfit’s offices and arrests of its leaders, is expected to be handed over to the NIA during the day.
PFI and its associates were accused of involving in terror activities. The ban came after over 150 people allegedly linked with PFI were detained or arrested in raids by multi-agency teams, spearheaded by National Investigation Agency (NIA), across seven states on Tuesday, five days after a similar pan-India crackdown against the 16-year-old group had led to the arrest of over a hundred of its activities and seizure of several dozen properties.
The group was formed on December 19, 2006, with the merger of the Karnataka Forum for Dignity and the National Development Front (NDF). The NDF was formed after the Babri Masjid demolition and subsequent riots in 1993.
‘PFI Involved in Disturbing Secular Fabric of India’
The PFI was indulging in “disturbing” the country’s communal and secular fabric and “posing a grave threat” to national security by advancing its radical ideology and seeking to establish “political Islam” in India besides targeting Hindu activists, according to officials monitoring activities of the PFI and its members. A secret “service team” was formed, similar to the “hit squads” whose main task was to provide security to senior PFI leaders and also kept track of Hindu leaders in their areas and plan action against them.
They alleged that since its inception, the PFI has been against Hindu organisations and its leaders and the group has a secret hit squad that engages in targeted killings of Hindu activists and those allegedly indulging in blasphemy.
The PFI is alleged to have been continuously involved in anti-government propaganda and spreading the narrative that Muslims were being persecuted in India. It had allegedly taken a lead in organising anti-CAA protests during December 2019-March 2020 and many cases were registered against them which included 51 in Uttar Pradesh alone where the PFI-led platform, Samvidhan Suraksha Andolan, was among those which coordinated the anti-CAA agitations.
(with inputs from PTI)
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