PC: Tripuraindia
To justify nationwide crackdown and subsequent five year ban on the Popular Front of India (PFI), documents available with Organiser claim, it has been one of the most potent radical Muslim outfit and its members were involved in numerous cases of violence, crime, unlawful activities and terrorism.
The PFI is an offshoot of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) affiliate of the Indian Mujahideen. The latter was banned in 2001. Apart from SIMI, during a public meeting (Kozhikode, February 2009), the other three constituents of PFI viz. National Development Front(NDF), Kerala; Karnataka Forum for Dignity (KFD), Karnataka; and Manitha Neethi Pasarai (MNP), Tamil Nadu formally subsumed their individual characters into the PFI.
The documents say “The PFI and its various front organisations had a presence in over 17 states in the country. The PFI encouraged its cadres to undertake actions that were prejudicial to the maintenance of peace and harmony between different religious groups, and disrupted secular fabric of the country. Hence, it is banned under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act”.
We cull out important portions from the confidential documents for general public to know PFI’s other nefarious hidden side.
* Over 1300 criminal cases had been registered by Police and NIA against cadres of PFI and its front organisations in different states. Some of these cases were also registered under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act/UAPA, the Explosive Substances Act, Arms Act and other heinous sections of IPC.
* There had been a number of instances of international linkages of PFI with terrorist Groups. Some activists of PFI, particularly from Kerala, had joined ISIS and had participated in terror activities in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. Some of these Indian ISIS terrorists were also killed in action by Security Forces/SFs in these conflict theatres. Some PFI elements associated with ISIS had been arrested by NIA and State Police. PFI had linkages with Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh/JMB. Some of these terrorist elements had been similarly arrested by NIA and State Police Forces.
* RSS worker Sanjith in Kerala, was murdered by cadres of PFI on November 15, 2021. In Tamil Nadu, the PFI cadres had killed V Ramalingam for challenging its Dawah activities in 2019. Other prominent cases of murder of pro-Hindu leaders by the PFI included Nandu (Kerala, 2021), Abhimanyu (Kerala, 2018), Bibin (Kerala, 2017), Sharath (Karnataka, 2017), R Rudresh (Karnataka, 2016), Praveen Poojari (Karnataka, 2016) and Sasi Kumar (Tamil Nadu, 2016). PFI cadres had also brutally chopped hand of one prof. TJ Joseph for alleged blasphemy in 2010. Some Al Qaeda (AQ) and ISIS training videos, depicting gruesome murders, had also been recovered from the PFI cadre accused in this case. Such activities created fear and feeling of terror among members of other religious communities, besides the public.
* In Kerala, explosives and Jihadi literature were recovered from Padam forest area (district Kollam) in June 2021. The forest area was being used by PFI as a military training site.
* In April 2013, Kerala Police had recovered arms and explosive materials from arms training site in Narath (district Kannur). The case was investigated by NIA and 41 PFI cadres were convicted by the Court in 2016. The PFI covertly organised training exercises and military like drills where participants were trained to use force against certain religious groups, which were perceived by the outfit as enemies of Islam.
* The PFI, which had always claimed to be a social organization, was found involved in murder (July 26) of Praveen Nettaru (a Hindu activist) in Bellare town (district Dakshina Kannada) in Karnataka. Praveen Nettaru was hacked to death by bike-borne assailants. Ten accused arrested, so far, were all members of the PFI. The investigation by local police revealed a chilling tale of cold-blooded murder by PFI cadres. The murder was planned by the PFI and members of Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI, political front of PFI)
* PFI had been receiving funds from dubious channels from within the country and abroad. The PFI and its affiliates maintained large number of bank accounts and received money through its well-wishers/financers based in India and abroad.
* Over 100 bank accounts of PFI not matching with financial profile of account holders have come to the notice of agencies. As a result, the registration status of PFI under section 12A & 12 AA of IT Act was withdrawn.
* A clandestine physical training center in Telangana revealed the violent nature of the PFI. One PFI Physical education instructor, Abdul Khader, had trained more than 200 PFI cadres in his martial art training center in Nizamabad. The Police had registered a case (Cr.No. 141/2022 dated July 4 at Nizamabad VI Town Police Station) under various sections of IPC and UAPA against 27 persons. Interrogation of the accused revealed that the PFI would identify Muslim youth, specifically from poor or middle class, who were later instilled with anti-Hindutva ideology and imparted training. The training involved use of swords and nun-chucks.
PFI has presence in 16 States:
It has presence in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Delhi, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal
· The Government of Jharkhand on February 12, 2019 declared PFI as an unlawful association under Section 16 of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act 1908.
· PFI has developed a multi-level training module to inculcate its radical ideology among fresh recruits and also to retain a strong and vibrant cadre force to meet its violent needs. Subsequent to the recruitment, the youths are subjected to classes and display of selective video clippings on emotive issues like Babri Masjid demolition, communal riots in Gujarat and other parts of the country aimed at instilling a sense of ‘Muslim persecution’ and distrust in them against the State as well as other communities. However, after the TJ Joseph’s palm chopping case (July 2010) and Narath training camp case (April 2013) and resultant pro-active steps initiated by Kerala police, PFI has decentralized the training establishments and changed venues intermittently to avoid public attention.
· PFI has floated various front bodies since its inception such as Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), Campus Front of India (CFI), National Women’s Front (NWF), All India Imams Council (AIIC), National Confederation of Human Rights Organisations (NCHRO), Rehab India Foundation (RIF), etc.
· SDPI: It is the political arm of PFI launched on July 29, 2009 with the aim of mobilizing vote bank of Muslims and other backward sections to attain political bargaining power. SDPI has been registered as a political party in the Election Commission of India on April 12, 2011.
· Campus Front of India (CFI): It is the student wing of PFI launched by NDF, the precursor of PFI, on Aug. 30, 2005 and has been organizing various programmes in college campuses on issues like Babri Masjid demolition, protests on Israeli invasion in Palestine, blasphemy, Sangh Parivar fascism, etc. CFI cadres were involved in murder (July 2, 2018) of one Abhimanyu (SFI activist) in the campus of Maharaja College, Ernakulam, Kerala.
· All India Imams Council (AIIC): It is the cleric wing of PFI comprising Imams and Madrassa teachers and came into being in 2002. It even circulates Khutbas over What’s App amongst its followers and others to maximize the reach of PFI’s narrative.
· Sathya Sarani Educational and Charitable Trust (SSECT, an Islamic training center for neo converts): Located in Malappuram district, Kerala, Sathya Sarani is the religious training centre for neo-converts run by PFI which started functioning in 1998. The institution inculcates religious education to Muslims as well as those recently converted to Islam from other religions. Malappuram-based facilities of PFI remain the preferred location for housing neo-converts drawn by Dawah efforts of non-PFI platforms too as PFI cadres located at the venue carefully restrict access of inmates to their families as well as associates.
· The PFI’s national chairman, Abdul Rahiman, was the former national secretary of SIMI, while the organization’s state secretary, Abdul Hameed, was SIMI’s former state secretary. Most former leaders of SIMI were either identified with PFI or were holding various portfolios in the organization. Retired Indian army officer P. C. Katoch has claimed that the PFI maintains links with the Pakistani intelligence agency, ISI.
· PFI cadres’ penchant for violence has resulted in registration of more than 700 cases against them under various sections of IPC, UAPA, Arms Act etc.
PFI’s Involvement in various anti-national activities
· 2003 – Rioting and murdering eight Hindus in during the Marad massacre.
2010 – In July 2010, the Kerala Police seized country-made bombs, weapons, CDs and several documents containing Taliban and Al-Qaeda propaganda, from PFI activists.
· 2011 – Two boys were kidnapped from SBRR Mahajana College premises in Mysore and murdered by members of Karnataka Forum for Dignity (KFG), who sought ransom of 5 crore rupees to raise funds for their organization.
· Jan. 2011 – In Jan 2011, Kerala Police filed a charge sheet against 27 alleged PFI activists in conjunction with an incident in which they severed the hand of a Kerala professor who had offended the religious sentiments of his students
· 2012 – Kerala government informed Kerala high court that activists of the NDF/PFI were involved in 27 communally motivated murder cases, 86 attempt to murder cases and in 106 communal cases registered in the state.
· July. 2012 – N. Sachin Gopal, a student of Modern ITC, Kannur and the district leader Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad was stabbed by members of the CFI and PFI.
· Sept. 2012 – After the Assam riots in 2012, an SMS hate campaign was launched in the South of India threatening people from the North-East with retribution, particularly after Ramzan. Investigators traced the source of these hate messages to Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami and the PFI.
· 2013 – Kerala Police raided a training camp in Narath, Kannur and arrested 21 activists of the PFI. Two country-made bombs, a sword, raw materials for making bombs and pamphlets in the name of PFI were seized by the police.
· October 2013 – 13 PFI cadres were convicted and some more are facing trial in the same court for their active nexus with the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
· 2015 – PFI staged a rally in Karnataka’s Shimoga during which stones were thrown on vehicles. Three people riding a bike were stabbed by PFI activists in which 32-year-old Vishwanath Shetty, succumbed to his injuries.
· January 2016 – A Special NIA Court in Kochi convicted 21 PFI cadres for conducting arms and explosives training at Narath in the Kannur district of Kerala in.
· 2016 – The murder of RSS worker R Rudresh in Bengaluru, in which the National Investigation Agency (NIA) named Asim Shariff, president of the PFI’s Bengaluru unit, as an accused.
· 2016- A procession was taken out by PFI at Patna in support of Dr. Zakir Naik (Founder/Peace foundation) wherein allegedly Pro-Pak slogans were raised. PFI was also involved in multiple political killings across India.
· 2017 – Kerala Police identified 6 members of PFI who had joined the Islamic State possibly by moving to Syria using fake passports
· 2017 – India Today, in an undercover operation, interviewed Ahmad Shareef, a founding member of PFI and the managing editor of PFI mouthpiece Thejas In the interview, when questioned whether the motive of PFI and Sathya Sarini is to convert India into an Islamic country, he said “All over the world. Why only India? After making India an Islamic state and then they will go to other states”. He also admitted that PFI had picked up funding from the Middle East in the past and transferred it into India through hawala channels.
· 2017 – Videos from a sting operation of Zainaba AS, president of NWF, showed that she admitted on camera that National Women’s Front – the PFI’s women’s wing – was carrying out mass conversion to Islam at Sathya Sarini.
· February 2019 – Murder of Ramalingam, a member of PMK after an argument with some Muslims about conversion activities. Ramalingam was murdered as part of a conspiracy after he tried to interfere in the conversions lead by the Dawah team of PFI.
· January 2020 – PFI found involved in funding of anti- CAA protests.
· February 2020- PFI played key role in the North-East Delhi riots during the CAA protests.
· August 2020- SDPI played key role in the Bengaluru riots against an inflammatory Facebook post.
· September 2021 – PFI found to be involved in instigating violence in the Assam’s Darrang district during a police eviction drive against encroachers.
· January 2022- CFI instigated 4 Muslim students to organize and coordinate the Hijab controversy in the Udupi district, Karnataka.
· July 2022 – Four PFI members booked for anti-national activities under UAPA in Nizamabad.
· PFI is known to rely heavily on the expatriate Muslim community spread across the Gulf for its financial requirements. Extensive efforts are carried out by PFI in countries such as Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Turkey etc. Visits of senior PFI leaders to these countries appear to be solely aimed for this fund collection drive. Many Hawala channels are used to acquire funds from Gulf and the money through Hawala channels lands mostly in Karnataka and Kerala.
· PFI is not FCRA registered. There is an apparent mismatch between PFI’s claimed capacity to raise funds and the numerous all India/State level campaigns/seminars and community service programmes that the outfit has managed to organize, since its inception. Regardless of the fact that several of such campaigns drew sparse to average response, PFI evidently had the financial and logistical wherewithal to commission and run them.
· There are several pro-PFI outfits associated with PFI. Rehab India Foundation/RIF (Charity wing of PFI) has received funds from Saudi Arabia. Also PFI’s mouthpiece ‘Thejas’ used to receive funds from several Muslim business establishments from Saudi Arabia based Muslim expatriates of Kerala.
· Many senior leaders of PFI/SDPI have been travelling to Turkey to meet with Think Tanks and NGOs which could possibly be involved in adverse activities. Recently, senior leaders of PFI/SDPI travelled to Turkey with senior leaders of JEIH to meet IHH which is believed to be involved in terror-funding in Syria.
· The continuous radicalization of its cadres by PFI has resulted in many of its cadres from Kerala getting attracted to international terrorist organizations, mainly the Islamic State, from 2016 onwards. Abu Thahir, a PFI sympathizer from Palakkad (Kerala) and an employee of the Thejas (mouthpiece of the PFI) was the first one noticed to have joined the Jabahat Al Nusra in Syria. After that Sajeer Abdulla, one of the founding admins of the SDPI Facebook page ‘SDPI Keralam’, migrated to IS territory in Afghanistan. The notorious ‘Ansar Ul Khilafa, Kerala’ IS module had PFI cadres (Manzeed @ Omar Al Hindi and Safwan, an employee of Thejas) as its key members.
PFI was involved in various riots in different states and murder of innocent people in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra etc.
· PFI through its center ‘Sathya Sarini’ promotes conversion of non-Muslims and provide religious training to neo converts.
· Various cadres of PFI were involved in terror financing, religious riots and brain washing Muslim youths in the name of religion by playing the victim card.
· Various explosives and unwanted materials were recovered from their camps from Narath and Padam forest in Kerala.
· PFI has close ties with Turkey based organisation, The Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief (İnsan Hak ve Hürriyetleri ve İnsani Yardım Vakfı, or IHH), which is an Al-Qaeda-linked Turkish charity organisation which was accused of smuggling arms to Al-Qaeda-affiliated jihadists in Syria.
· PFI calls for unity by ignoring differences while focusing on the “end goal” as they see it. This is exactly the intent behind the principle of Hasan Al-Banna (Founder, Muslim Brotherhood), reinforced by Yusuf Al-Qardawi and propagated by PFI, which has become the mantra of the various extremist organisations over the last 85 years.
· In 2012 the Kerala government filed an affidavit in Kerala High Court accusing PFI of being involved in 27 murders in the state. Again in 2014, the Kerala government submitted another report claiming involvement of 86 PFI activities in heinous crimes like murder and anti-national activities.
· The central investigating agencies found links between PFI and Pakistani agency, ISI. With the exposure of hate speeches of Islamic preacher, Zakir Naik – investigating agencies claimed, again, that there is a link between PFI and Zakir Naik.
· 127 Kerala based Muslims, who were influenced by PFI literature joined ISIS operation abroad and hence agencies again linked PFI with ISIS. . At least 15 PFI cadres from Kannur in Kerala have joined/attempted to join IS.
· NIA had arrested various PFI leaders in cases linked with ISIS/Daesh modules in India.
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