PFI threatens peaceful atmosphere of the country: Govt

New Delhi: The government on Wednesday banned the radical outfit Popular Front of India saying the peaceful atmosphere of the country had been threatened by it.

Government officials said the PFI, having a presence in 17 States, had been indulging in disturbing the communal and secular fabric of the country.

“It was posing a grave threat to the national security by advancing its radical ideology and calling for the establishment of political Islam in India,” said an official speaking on the condition of anonymity.

They said the PFI is a potent radical organisation, whose members have been consistently involving themselves in violence, crime and anti-national activities in several parts of the country.

Several members of PFI, including its top leadership, had been active members of banned SIMI -EM Abdul Rahiman (former Chairman), E Abubacker (Member, National Executive Council/NEC) and P Koya (Member, NEC) were members of the SIMI.  The predecessor of PFI in Kerala, an outfit called - the National Development Fund, was established by former SIMI leaders. SIMI was banned in 2001 under the UAPA for anti-national activities.

They further said since its inception in 2006, the PFI was encouraging its cadres to undertake actions that are prejudicial to the maintenance of peace and harmony between different religious groups, and disrupt the secular fabric of the country.

Giving the background of the PFI they said it came into existence on December 9, 2006, with three south Indian fundamentalist outfits, namely the National Development Front/NDF, Kerala; the Karnataka Forum for Dignity/KFD, Karnataka; and the Manitha Neethi Pasarai/MNP, Tamil Nadu, rechristened the ‘South India Council’ (a Bangalore based organisation floated by NDF in 2004) as the ‘Popular Front of India’.

They said one of the constituent organisations of PFI, the NDF was formed in 1993 in Kerala to form ‘resistance groups’ to meet the ‘challenge from the Sangh Parivar.’

The KFD, though formed (2005) for the claimed objective of upliftment of Muslims, indoctrinated its members to undertake ‘Jehad’ for the cause of Islam.

The training was imparted to them in martial arts, use of lathis and unarmed combat, apart from ideological indoctrination.

The MNP, which was formed (2001) under the name of ‘National Defence Force’ by M. Ghulam Mohammed in 1999, was aimed at preparing Muslim youth to retaliate against attacks on Muslims by Hindus and any attempt to denigrate Islam.

Officials added that the PFI was expected to grow on the pattern of the NDF, the most dominant of its constituents. It aimed to have uniformed cadres trained in martial arts and defensive/offensive tactics, and form ‘Action Squads’ to take ‘revenge’ from the ‘enemy’.

But overtly, socio-economic issues were raised involving Muslims at the grassroots level and the secular name (Popular Front) to camouflage its real intentions to radicalise the Muslim population. The PFI’s constitution stated the objective of working for issues pertaining to Muslims, Dalits and Backward sections; a ‘movement’ for the realisation of a society in which freedom, justice, and security were equally enjoyed by all individuals and classes. It hides the actual objective, which was to communalize the Indian society, radicalise Muslims and target those who oppose its hidden agendas.

The PFI had a well-structured organisational set-up at the national, state and local levels, and ran several offices.

According to investigators, The National Executive Council (NEC), its supreme decision-making body of the PFI had 13 members and it was headed by Chairman OMA Salam.

A bigger body, the National General Assembly (NGA), had representatives from each State. It operates through multiple front organisations. The top leadership of the outfit remained dominated by leaders from Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. In their oath of allegiance, the PFI cadres swear to sacrifice their lives for the creation of Allah’s rule (Shariah) and for the interest of the organisation. This oath was administered to the cadre only when he was judged to have been suitably radicalised for the outfit.