The simultaneous action of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against the controversial organization PFI (Popular Front of India) in more than 10 states is not significant just because it has been in its country since the formation of the NIA. This is the biggest action I have ever taken, but also because there are many such cases related to terrorism and riots pending in the courts, in which the questionable role of the PFI has been raised.
The preparedness of both the investigating agencies can be gauged from the fact that there are PFI offices and offices in several states including Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, and Delhi. The houses of office bearers were raided and more than a hundred people including its national president OMA Salam were arrested.
Simi’s new look
Surprisingly, this organization was allegedly formed to promote education in the Muslim community and remove its backwardness, but the role of this organization has been questionable since its existence.
Even in 2012, the then Congress government of Kerala gave an affidavit in the High Court that PFI was nothing but a new form of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI)! Right now the Enforcement Directorate alleged conspiracy to protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in many parts of the country, the Delhi riots in 2020, and the murder of a Dalit girl after the gang-rape in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh. Investigating the role of PFI and its financial links in the matter.
Likely to be banned
Union Home Minister Amit Shah has reviewed the situation by meeting with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, as there are indications, it is not surprising that the government should ban PFI soon. In fact, along with taking the action of NIA and ED against PFI to its final conclusion at the earliest, there is also a need to give a constructive message to the youth who have come under its influence that, such organizations can mislead them, they cannot make their future.
There are indications of PFI being a big ‘hub’ in the Pune district. The Intelligence Department of Maharashtra has alerted other agencies about this. Suspicion of Jamiat-Ulema-e-Hind’s hand is expressed in Umesh Kolhe’s murder case. 22 PFI office-bearers were arrested in Kerala and 20 in Maharashtra. They are accused of using money from abroad for terrorism and committing seditious acts in the name of social work.
