Popular Front of India had presence in additional than 15 states. (File)
New Delhi:
The Twitter account of Popular Front of India (PFI), the Islamic group banned by the federal government, and a number of other of its leaders have been withheld in India by the social media platform. Its Facebook web page and Instagram profile are now not out there both.
The organisation’s account, @PFIofficial, had round 81,000 followers. Twitter has withheld the handles of its chairperson, OMA Salam (@oma_salam), who had slightly below 50,000 followers, and common secretary, Anis Ahmed (@AnisPFI), who had almost 85,000 followers. Both of them are among the many 200-plus PFI leaders arrested in raids throughout the nation over the previous two weeks, simply forward of ban.
The PFI Twitter takedown comes a day after the Union Home Ministry notified the five-year ban on the organisation and its associates over alleged “terror links”. The National Investigation Agency, which probes instances of pan-India significance, and the Enforcement Directorate, which tracks illicit cash, have alleged that the PFI has hyperlinks with the Islamic State terror group and held arms coaching camps.
The PFI, whose pupil wing plans to go to court docket towards the ban, denied these allegations however duly dissolved its models after the federal government motion. Organisations lined by the ban below the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) embody Rehab India Foundation, Campus Front of India, All India Imams Council, National Confederation of Human Rights Organisation, National Women’s Front, Junior Front, Empower India Foundation and Rehab Foundation, Kerala.
A political offshoot of the PFI, Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), which is not on the record, mentioned the ban is a “challenge” to Indian democracy and citizen rights assured by the Constitution.
The probe companies claimed to have discovered a “bomb-making manual” and bodily training guidebooks as alleged proofs that the PFI “wanted to establish Islamic rule in India by 2047”.
A day earlier than the ban, nevertheless, responding to current raids, the PFI had issued an announcement: “The organisation in its history of three decades has been endeavouring to prevent the youths from getting radicalised… and to bring them to the mainstream by instilling patriotism, strong allegiance to the Constitution of the country and respect the democratic values… Popular Front has never thought of or endeavoured to establish Islamic rule in the country.”
The Congress in Kerala and its coalition associate Indian Union Muslim League or IUML welcomed to ban on PFI however mentioned that RSS ought to be banned too. Senior IUML chief MK Muneer mentioned the PFI was a radical outfit that misinterpreted the Quran and persuaded neighborhood members to undertake the trail of violence.
Among those that have condemned the PFI ban is Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi, chief the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM). He mentioned the organisation shouldn’t be blamed for the crimes dedicated by “some individuals”.