New Delhi, (Samajweekly) In light of emerging evidence from Uttar Pradesh, Karnakata and Kerala over the Popular Front of India’s (PFI) involvement in alleged anti-national activities, prominent Muslim organisation Sufi Islamic Board has made a fresh appeal to the Union Home Affairs Ministry to ban the group on a priority basis.
“We have requested the government to take cognisance of PFI’s new links in Turkey with outfits working against the interests of our country. Such links bother us,” Syed Khalidmiya Naqvi ul Husaini, chief of Sufi Board’s Gujarat wing, told IANS.
On PFI members’ alleged meeting with leaders of controversial Turkish organisation IHH(Insan Hak ve Hurriyatleri), the Sufi Board office-bearer said that Indian agencies need to probe deep into such relationships which could disturb harmony in India.
“IHH is linked to extremist organisations like ISIS. Therefore links of PFI cadres with IHH, if true, can have serious implications on our country’s security. Recent investigations of National Investigation Agency against a few PFI cadres reveal their deep-rooted affiliation with terror outfits. The Home Ministry should move swiftly and ban this organisation,” said Syed Khalidmiya, peer of the famous Dargah in Gujarat’s Mehsana.
Probing a case of money laundering against the PFI, the Enforcement Directorate recently revealed to a court in Kerala’s Kochi that PFI’s student wing leader K.A. Rauf Sharif received huge amounts from suspicious overseas accounts. The ED, in its remand report, said that Sharif had funded the trip of four persons to Hathras in Uttar Pradesh, where a Dalit woman died after being allegedly gang-raped. All four persons were arrested by UP Police in October last year on charges of disturbing social harmony and inciting riots.
Karnataka Police had also found primary evidence against PFI in the Bengaluru riots in early 2020.
On the PFI’s alleged role in large scale violence during anti-CAA stir and Delhi riots, Syed Khalidmiya said that Delhi Police had arrested senior office-bearers of the Islamic outfit in connection with funding the riots.
“The police is doing its job but we are worried about the PFI’s false propaganda. They are trying to mislead Muslim youths at the behest of those who are against the nation. We all want peace and therefore Sufi Board has launched a campaign to ban the PFI. The objective is to ensure communal harmony,” he said.
While over a dozen cases of violence, terror activities and money laundering are being contested in courts against the PFI, the outfit maintains that it had no role in the riots in north or southern part of India, as portrayed by several law enforcement agencies.
On basis of documentary evidence against the PFI, the UP government had earlier initiated a move to ban the controversial Islamic organisation. Unperturbed with such grave charges, the PFI describes the organisation as a neo-social movement committed to empower people to ensure justice, freedom and security. It has several wings which caters to different sections of society, including the National Women’s Front and the Campus Front of India.
