Delhi, Sept 28th, 2022: The Central government on Tuesday placed a ban on the radical Islamist political organization, Popular Front of India(PFI), and its associates for 5 years, deeming it an ‘unlawful association’.
The announcement was made by the Ministry of Home Affairs, declaring the outfit and all its associates, affiliates, and fronts illegal for the next five years under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act(UAPA).
With this, the PFI has been added to the list of 42 banned terrorist organizations under Section 35 of the UAPA.
PFI has been making headlines in the past few days as over 270 members of the organization have been arrested in connection to illegal and terror activities.
Last Thursday, raids were conducted in 15 states across India by the National Investigation Agency(NIA) during which almost 100 PFI workers were arrested, including the outfit’s chairman, O M A Salman.
PFI’s associate organizations — 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, Kerala have also been banned.
In a notification, the government said on Tuesday that a majority of PFI’s top leadership was earlier part of the banned outfit Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). It added PFI also has linkages with banned terror outfit Jamat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).
The ban on the Popular Front of India (PFI) under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act’s Section 3, which makes it a “terrorist organization”, is expected to cripple its funding, recruitment, and other activities as anyone found associated with it can be booked under terror charges in any part of the country.
