TERROR TRAP

The PFI has joined a list of 39 organisations that have been banned in India. Invoking UAPA, the centre said the PFI and its affiliates were linked to the IS and propagating anti-national sentiments

- Shivam Sharma

ON September 28, 2022, the government declared the Popular Front of India (PFI) as unlawful association and temporarily banned it for five years under the UAPA act. With this, the PFI joins a list of 39 organisations that have been banned in the country. These include the Khalistan Zindabad Force, Khalistan Commando Force, International Sikh Youth Federation, United Liberation Front of Assam and the Students' Islamic Movement of India.

The ban on the PFI followed years of constant run-ins with the police of various states. On September 22 and 27, the National Investigation Agency (NIA), Enforcement Directorate (ED) and police conducted raids on party offices of the PFI in various states. In the first round of raids, 106 people were arrested and in the second, 247 were arrested or detained.

Investigating agencies claimed that they had got enough evidence against the PFI. After this, the Ministry of Home Affairs declared the PFI as an "illegal" organisation under The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), 1967.

The Union government reasoned that the organisation was prejudicial to the integrity, sovereignty and security of the country and citied PFI's alleged connection with terror organisations like the Students Islamic Movement of India, Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh and Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

PFI's eight associate organizations-Rehab India Foundation (RIF), Campus Front of India (CFI), All India Imams Council (AIIF), National Confederation of Human Rights Organisation (NCHRO), National Women's Front.

IDEOLOGICAL BATTLE The Popular Front of India, founded in 2006, has often been involved in violent clashes with the RSS (above) in parts of Kerala and Karnataka

(NWF), Junior Front (JF), Empower India Foundation (EIF) and Rehab Foundation, Kerala-were also banned.