Why PFI should be banned

The demand grew in view of the recent killing of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha leader Praveen Nettaru, who was hacked to death on July 28, 2022, in Dakshina Kannada district… Two people, Zakir and Mohammad Shafiq, arrested in connection with the murder, allegedly had links with the PFI… "My husband was an active member of the PFI, Shafiq's wife is said to have told "India Today".



In what further puts the organisation in the dock, the Enforcement Directorate recently attached 23 bank accounts linked to the PFI and 10 bank accounts of PFI’s front organisation, Rehab India Foundation… As per the ED statement, quoted in the media, there was a larger criminal conspiracy of PFI and its related entities to raise funds within the country and abroad to carry out various unlawful activities.

The most worrying fact is that there has been a spate of killings in Kerala of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and BJP workers, like, SK Srinivasan, S Sanjith, Renjith Sreenivas, and others in which the name of PFI and Social Democratic Party of India members have cropped up, leading to even the Kerala High Court observing in May 2022 that there was no doubt that PFI and SDPI were extremist organisations and indulged in serious acts of violence.

Also, in 2020, Delhi riots too, two PFI members Mohammad Iliyas and Parvez Ahmed, were arrested by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police for their alleged role in instigating the people during the violence.

It does not stop here. PFI members have also been associated with an international terrorist organization like Islamic State. According to the Kerala Police, at least 6 PFI members from Kannur district- Abdul Ghayoom, Shameer, Safwan, Abdul Manaf, Suhail and his wife Rizwana – joined the Islamic State in 2017. PFI Kannur district president VK Noufal had accepted that Shameer and Manaf were PFI activists, reported TOI.

Here, it is worth mentioning that in July 2022, the NIA court in Kochi sentenced Midhilaj, U K Hamsa and Abdul Razak in 2017 Valapattanam IS recruitment case. According to the police, the convicted persons were part the Kannur module of the Islamic State. Importantly, intelligence agencies estimated that about 40 to 50 individuals from Kannur district had joined the IS in Syria and they were PFI activists. Also one of the suspected terrorists of this Kannur module of the Islamic State, Shajahan Valluva Kandy had told the NIA that he joined the ISIS to establish Islamic Shariah law in the subcontinent. Surprisingly, he was associated with the PFI since 2006, when the outfit was known as the National Development Front.

The list of the PFI’s alleged involvement in fomenting violence in India is long and goes back many years… In 2010, the right hand of professor TJ Joseph from Kerala was chopped off by a PFI member. Way back in 2014, the Kerala government in an affidavit in the High Court had said that PFI members were involved in at least 27 political murders, 86 attempts to murder and more than 125 cases of communal incidents.

Not only Killing, rioting and alleged terror link, PFI is also involved in controversial issues like ‘Love Jihad’ and instigating Muslim girls to wear Hijab. While investigating cases of love jihad in Kerala on the instructions of the Supreme Court, NIA had revealed that Sainaba, associated with the PFI, lured Akhila Ashokan alias Hadiya and Athira Nambiar into accepting Islam.

Also, when the Muslim women across the globe are fighting against practice of wearing Hijab, in Karnataka, PFI recently started a social media campaign, instigating Muslim women to wear Hijab. Having said this, looking at all the activities of PFI, the burning question arises -- Is it time for the government to ban the organization in view of the threat that it poses to the security and integrity of India?