Radical Islamist outfit Popular Front of India’s leaders met with Turkish intelligence & al-Qaeda-linked Jihadist group IHH

In a shocking revelation, a European research group – Nordic monitor reported that a meeting between Popular Front of India (PFI) and Turkish intelligence-linked jihadist group IHH was held in 2018.

According to a Nordic Monitor investigation, two key leaders of the PFI, E. M. Abdul Rahiman and Prof. P. Koya, members of the National Executive Council of the PFI, were privately hosted in Istanbul by the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief (?nsan Hak ve Hürriyetleri ve ?nsani Yard?m Vakf?, or IHH), an al-Qaeda-linked Turkish charity. Both P Koya and Abdul Rahiman were top leaders of Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), a banned Islamic terrorist organisation which emerged as the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami.

The meeting was held at IHH headquarters in Istanbul on October 20, 2018 and attended by IHH Secretary-General Durmu? Ayd?n and IHH Vice President Hüseyin Oruç. The representatives of both organisations discussed promoting a partnership in various fields.

The PFI issued a statement endorsing Turkish President Erdo?an after a 2016 coup attempt. The PFI and its publications have been taking a pro-Erdogan stance in various issues of international importance. On several occasions, they have come out with open in support of the Turkey’s Islamist leader.

“The IHH was accused of smuggling arms to al-Qaeda-affiliated jihadists in Syria in January 2014 in a counterterrorism investigation conducted by a prosecutor in Turkey’s eastern province of Van. The investigation into a Turkish al-Qaeda cell found that ?brahim ?en, a top al-Qaeda operative who was detained in Pakistan and jailed at Guantanamo until 2005 before he was turned over to Turkey, his brother Abdurrahman ?en and others were sending arms, supplies and funds to al-Qaeda groups in Syria with the help of Turkey’s intelligence service,” states the Nordic Monitor report.

The reports suggest that the meeting was part of the Turkish government’s outreach to Muslim communities in the Southeast Asia region. The meeting was held to discuss promoting a partnership between the two organisations in various fields.

Recently, the PFI was in the spotlight after the Uttar Pradesh police arrested its four cadres in connection with attempting to formant communal riots in Hathras. The UP police has blamed the PFI and SDPI for the violence that erupted in the state during the protest against the CAA in December 2019. The Delhi police had also arrested several PFI cadres in connection with the anti-CAA riots in Delhi.