BY S VENKAT NARAYAN Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: India’s Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Wednesday declared the Popular Front of India (PFI), a Muslim organisation, as an “unlawful association” under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and banned it for five years. The ban applies to its eight front organisations, including the Campus Front of India (CFI), its student wing.

The MHA has also issued another order empowering States to notify places associated with PFI and its front organisations where unlawful activity is taking place. According to the order, the District Magistrate will make a list of immovable properties of the organisation and make an order that no person who at the date of the notification was not a resident in the notified place shall, without the permission of the District Magistrate, enter, or be on or in, the notified place.

The State Governments of Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Gujarat have recommended a ban on PFI, MHA said. It added that if there is no immediate ban, the group will continue its subversive activities, disturbing public order and undermining the constitutional set-up of the country; encourage and enforce a terror-based regressive regime; continue to propagate anti-national sentiments and radicalise a particular section of society with the intention to create disaffection against the country and aggravate activities which are detrimental to the integrity, security and sovereignty of the country.

The ban comes close on the heels of a countrywide raid on September 22 when 109 members of the groups were arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and other agencies. MHA will now set up a tribunal under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) to try the case where PFI could defend its case against the ban.

In a notification, MHA said some of the PFI’s founding members are the leaders of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and have linkages with Jamat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), both of which are proscribed organisations. It said that the group also has linkages to global terrorist organisations such as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and participated in terror activities in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. It said the PFI cadres linked to ISIS have been killed in these conflict theatres and some have been arrested by State Police and Central Agencies.

PFI and its associates “operate openly as a socio-economic, educational and political organisation, but they have been pursuing a secret agenda to radicalise a particular section of the society working towards undermining the concept of democracy and show sheer disrespect towards the constitutional authority and constitutional set up of the country.”

The Ministry said the PFI cadres have been involved in several terrorist acts and the murder of several persons, including Sanjith (Kerala, November 2021), V. Ramalingam, (Tamil Nadu, 2019), Nandu, (Kerala, 2021), Abhimanyu (Kerala, 2018), Bibin (Kerala, 2017), Sharath (Karnataka, 2017), R. Rudresh (Karnataka, 2016), Praveen Poojary (Karnataka, 2016), Sasi Kumar (Tamil Nadu, 2016) and Praveen Nettaru (Karnataka, 2022).

Most murder victims as cited in the notification were members of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) or other Hindu organisations.

MHA said the “criminal activities and brutal murders have been carried out by PFI cadres for the sole objective of disturbing public peace and tranquillity and creating reign of terror in public mind.”

The office bearers and cadres of the PFI along with others are conspiring and raising funds from within India and abroad through the banking channels, and the hawala, donations, etc as part of a well-crafted criminal conspiracy, and then transferring, layering and integrating these funds through multiple accounts to project them as legitimate and eventually using these funds to carry out various criminal, unlawful and terrorist activities in India, MHA said.

It said the sources of deposits on behalf of PFI with respect to its several bank accounts were not supported by the financial profiles of the account holders and the activities of PFI were not being carried out as per their declared objectives. Therefore, the Income Tax Department cancelled the registration granted to PFI and Rehab India Foundation under section 12A or 12AA of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (43 of 1961).

The Ministry said the PFI is involved in several criminal and terror cases and shows sheer disrespect towards the constitutional authority of the country. With funds and ideological support from outside, it has become a major threat to the internal security of the country and investigations in various cases have revealed that the PFI and its cadres have been repeatedly engaging in violent and subversive acts.

“Criminal violent acts carried out by PFI include chopping off a limb of a college professor, cold-blooded killings of persons associated with organisations espousing other faiths, obtaining explosives to target prominent people and places and destruction of public property,” it said.MHA said investigations have established clear linkages between PFI and its associates or affiliates or fronts.

“Rehab India Foundation collects funds through PFI members and some of the members of the PFI are also members of Campus Front of India, Empower India Foundation, Rehab Foundation, Kerala, and the activities of Junior Front, All India Imams Council, National Confederation of Human Rights Organization (NCHRO) and National Women’s Front are monitored/coordinated by the PFI leaders,” it said.

The Ministry said the PFI has created the front organisations with the objective of enhancing its reach among different sections of the society such as youth, students, women, Imams, lawyers or weaker sections of the society with the sole objective of expanding its membership, influence and fundraising capacity.It added that the front groups have a ‘Hub and Spoke’ relationship with the PFI acting as the Hub and utilizing the mass outreach and fundraising capacity of the affiliate groups for strengthening its capability for unlawful activities and they function as ‘roots and capillaries’ through which the PFI is fed and strengthened.