The MHA banned the PFI and its associates and issued the gazette notification a day after the second nationwide crackdown on the radical outfit in five days with police teams across seven states conducting raids Tuesday and detaining or arresting more than 270 people with alleged links to the radical outfit.
The MHA in the notification issued said the PFI and its associates, affiliates, and fronts have been indulging in unlawful activities, which are prejudicial to India’s integrity, sovereignty, and security, have the potential of disturbing public peace and communal harmony, and supporting militancy in the country. The notification further accused the PFI of “propagating anti-national sentiments and radicalizing a particular section of society” with the intention to create disaffection against the country.
- The notification said PFI and its associates or affiliates or fronts have been indulging in unlawful activities, which are prejudicial to the integrity, sovereignty, and security of the country and have the potential to disturb public peace and communal harmony of the country and support militancy in the country.
- The govt said some of the PFI’s founding members are the leaders of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and PFI has linkages with Jamat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), both of which are proscribed organizations.
- There had been a number of instances of international linkages of PFI with global terrorist groups like the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)
- The PFI and its associates or affiliates or fronts have been working covertly to increase the radicalization of one community by promoting a sense of insecurity in the country, which is substantiated by the fact that some PFI cadres have joined international terrorist organizations, said the notification.
The government alleged that the PFI was found to have links with the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), the Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh, and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), all three of which are banned under Section 35 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). Affiliate organizations of the PFI, such as the Rehab India Foundation (RIF), Campus Front of India (CFI), All India Imams Council (AIIC), National Confederation of Human Rights Organization (NCHRO), National Women’s Front, Junior Front, Empower India Foundation and Rehab Foundation.
September 18, 2022: NIA Conducts Raids at 23 Locations in PFI Case. National Investigation Agency (NIA) was conducting raids at more than 23 locations across the country in connection with a terror-related case involving the Popular Front of India (PFI).
September 22, 2022: PFI Stages Protests in Various Cities of Kerala; Calls For Statewide Strike. Popular Front of India (PFI) on Thursday staged protests across Kerala against the raids carried out in their organization’s offices, houses of leaders, and other premises by multi-agencies led by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for allegedly supporting terror activities in the country.