Long overdue, the ban on PFI shows a sense of timing of PM Modi and a lot of preparations

New Delhi: A ban on the Popular Front of India (PFI) was long overdue – with many state governments pressing the Union Home Ministry to do so because it attempted to radicalise the Muslim youth and create violence in their areas.

But Prime Minister Narendra Modi wanted the ministry to bide time to let the security agencies establish its wide network, identify its leadership and trace its operatives and also get a better grip on the funding routes before the ban.

This was to avoid a repeat of what had happened when the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) was banned in 2001.

In other words, Modi wanted greater homework by the security agencies before an official ban came into existence to prevent the PFI from morphing into new groups like the SIMI did. At that time, a lot of its leaders went underground to re-emerge even as functionaries of the PFI. Some SIMI units also rechristened themselves as the Indian Mujahideen too.

Though it came into existence in 2006, the PFI has followed the path of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), which was set up in Aligarh in 1977. By 2001, the SIMI had earned enough notoriety for a ban. The Supreme Court confirmed the ban in 2008. In 2019, the Centre extended the ban by another five years.

Therefore, this time, Modi wanted a crackdown that should ensure that none of its affiliates had the wherewithal to reincarnate into new groups or pose any big security challenge as the country heads for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. There must also be no fallout on the law and order front when a series of assembly elections are held, starting from Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh by end of 2022, which will be followed by polls in Karnataka and Tripura in early 2023 and a few other states including Rajasthan, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Telangana by end of 2023.

Modi underlined the importance of a nationwide sweep against the PFI by asking Union Home Minister Amit Shah to task National Security Adviser Ajit Doval for the operation in 15 states. Doval roped in the National Investigative Agency as the nodal action group well as the anti-terrorism units of various states including those run by the Opposition governments.

Doval was closely in touch with the police chief of Kerala, which is the home ground of the PFI, as well as that of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana and other states where the tentacles of the outfit had spread in recent times.

According to officials,  the banning of the PFI under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act may not wipe out the organisation in India but it will certainly help the probe agencies to disrupt its operations immediately to set up pro-terror setups in different parts of the country.

The swiftness of the NIA sweep did take the PFI by surprise because it had not expected the Modi government to "dare" for an action of this kind before the assembly polls in Gujarat and other states in the next six to seven months.

Of course, with the top leaders under the NIA dragnet, the rudderless lower rung PFI activists have chosen to vent their anger in some areas of Tamil Nadu targeting the BJP and the RSS establishments. Some Kerala PFI members had also hurled crude bombs, damaged buses and attacked police personnel soon after the raids.

Two things appeared to force the Centre's hands to act now, say the officials. One, the security agencies had stumbled upon a lot of information on the funding routes of the PFI extending up to countries like UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman, besides Turkey where non-state actors were said to be very actively providing assistance and motivation. The suspicion was that some PFI activists could be even in touch with the National Intelligence Organization, the intelligence agency of Turkey like our R&AW, with the help of the Pakistani spy agency, ISI.

Secondly, the PFI's activity in brainwashing the Muslim youth in India had gone up by leaps and bounds in recent months. The PFI, which is believed to be headquartered in Kerala, had managed to spread its network in 23 states in the last few years.

Apart from its main agenda to provoke the Muslim community by stoking fears of insecurity and an uncertain future, the PFI was seen at the forefront of the recent Hijab agitation in Karnataka schools and other violent acts in different cities that followed the controversy over remarks made by former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma in a TV debate.

Earlier, in 2019-2020, the PFI was suspected to be behind the agitations across India over the enactment of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which allowed fast-tracking of a grant of citizenship to non-Muslims in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

The PFI worked in tandem with other groups to spread baseless fears among the Indian Muslims that they were set to lose their citizenship under this law. The CAA is yet to be notified for implementation since it was enacted in December 2019. Its role was also suspected in the Delhi riots of February 2020.

The PFI was seen working among sections of the Muslim community in the communally most sensitive spots. But what took everyone by shock and awe was the brutal beheading of a Hindu tailor in Udaipur, Rajasthan for an alleged social media post in support of Nupur Sharma. It was then that the intelligence agencies realised that the action could not be delayed any further.

At the August 29 meeting that was held by Amit Shah, where the green signal was given to the NIA, Enforcement Directorate, and Intelligence Bureau officials to go ahead with the nationwide crackdown from September 22, it was revealed that the PFI members were actively operating in the UAE through frontal outfits like the Rehab Foundation, the Indian Social Forum, and Indian Fraternity Forum. PFI leaders also maintained an office at Muraba, behind the Lulu hypermarket in Al Ain in Dubai, and were active in spreading Islamic fundamentalism and raising funds to be sent to India. Besides, the Indian Fraternity Forum in Bahrain, UAE, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia was also involved in raising funds for it.

So when NIA-led multi-agency teams moved in, it could easily round up 106 leaders and activists of the radical Islamic outfit in 15 states for involvement in the alleged terror activities. Over 250 officers and staff of investigating agencies were involved in the crackdown. As a preparatory step, Doval held meetings with Kerala Police at a time when Modi visited Kochi for the commissioning of the INS Vikrant. After Kerala, Doval moved to Mumbai where he stayed at Raj Bhavan to hold meetings with security officials across the states.

Those arrested by the NIA included PFI chairman O M A Salam, national secretary Nasaruddin Elamaram, Kerala unit president C P Mohammed Basheer and Delhi PFI chief Parvez Ahmed.  All of these individuals have been accused of terror funding, organising terrorist camps, and teaching bigotry to people.

Although PFI repeatedly denied links with the SIMI and the Indian Mujahideen, it was believed that it was involved in the attack on a professor in Kerala whose hands were amputated over an offensive question in an examination paper.

Police have also long suspected the PFI's hand in the murders of Marxist as well as RSS workers in Kerala.

The government also believes that with a ban on the PFI in place, any support for the group through social or mainstream media will also be dealt with under provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

What does a ban under the UAPA mean? A ban essentially criminalises the outfit’s membership and can allow forfeiture of its property. Member states of global organisations such as the United Nations Security Council are expected to act against terrorists and terrorist organisations; freeze their assets; prevent their entry into or transit through their territory; prevent the direct or indirect supply, sale, or transfer of arms and ammunition to those individuals or entities listed in the ban.

A special judge will, of course, hear arguments for and against the ban on the PFI in due course. The organisation itself or any person affected by its inclusion in the ban schedule can approach the central government to get it removed. Thereafter, a review committee is appointed which is headed by a sitting or former judge of a high court to “judicially review" the application. The judge thereafter will hear the parties and the government and then rule on the matter.

As for the political fallout, the ban on the PFI may see the opposition parties including the ruling Left unable to openly oppose the action against the PFI even though it is said to have an understanding with the PFI's political arm, the SDPI, in Kerala. For the "secular" parties including Congress, they cannot risk being sympathetic to the PFI, which has not hesitated to target them too sometimes.