Kerala Asks Centre To Ban Islamist Outfit Popular Front Of India, Says Report

Updated on: 15 February 2018 2:07 pm

Kerala has asked the Centre to ban Islamist organization Popular Front of India (PFI), said Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju.

“Kerala has pressed for a ban on the PFI and we are examining the case,” said Mr. Rijiju in a report by The Hindu.

The issue was discussed at the annual DGP meet held in Madhya Pradesh’s Tekanpur in January, which was also attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and other senior officials in the security establishment, the report says.

In the meet, Kerala police chief Lokanath Behera gave a detailed presentation on the PFI’s growth and activities in the State.

Meanwhile, another report by The Hindu has said that the Enforcement Directorate is planning to launch money laundering investigations against the alleged activists of the PFI who face serious criminal charges, including cases under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

Earlier, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had reportedly recommendedbanning PFI citing terror links and other activities.

NIA’s dossier on PFI had reportedly detailed four terror cases in which its cadres have been chargesheeted or convicted under UAPA.

PFI is an Islamist fundamentalist organisation in India that changed its name from National Development Front (NDF) in 2006.

PFI had invited national attention after its involvement in the hand-chopping of a professor in Kerala in 2010 for allegedly insulting the prophet. The outfit has been recently in news in connection with the conversion and marriage of a Hindu girl Akhila alias Hadiya in Kerala..

The NIA had earlier cited PFI’s alleged involvement in four cases to support its claim — chopping of a professor’s palm in Kerala’s Idukki district, organising a training camp in Kannur from where the NIA reportedly seized swords, country-made bombs and ingredients for making IEDs, murder of RSS leader Rudresh in Bengaluru and plans to carry out terror attacks in South India by involving the outfit Islamic State Al-Hindi, the report says.