In a sting op, members admitted they receive hawala funding from Gulf countries.
A day after a sting showed PFI members admitting that they received hawala funding from Gulf countries and ran elaborate conversion operations,it faces the possibility of a ban. Six PFI members were also nabbed by by the Kerala police on Wednesday, for allegedly joining ISIS.
Police said that all six were active PFI activists who managed to move out of India, possibly with fake passports.
High-level sources in the Ministry of Home Affairs have told a news channel that a ban against Islamic charity Popular Front of India (PFI) is imminent and that the decision to formally ban the organisation will be announced soon. The expose showed members of the PFI admit that they receive hawala funding from Gulf countries and ran elaborate conversion factories.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh told India Today, “We have taken cognisance of your expose and initiated action. No one will be allowed to break the law in this country. After due process of law, action will be taken against those who have been found doing wrong things.” MHA told the channel that intelligent sources have been monitoring activities of the PFI over a year and a half. The Kerala police on Thursday confirmed that six more youngsters from Kannur district have joined the Islamic State (IS) in Syria.
The news about the death of one of them, Muhammed Shajil (25) was conveyed by his wife in a foreign country, to his uncle. The wife of another Rishad disclosed information about his death to her mother. Police said that these people were active workers of PFI in Kerala. The development comes amid police trying to confirm news about the death of five Islamic State sympathisers from the district in Syria.
Three youths - Mithilaj, Abdul Razzak and Rashid - with suspected links to the IS were arrested by the Valapattinam police in the district on October 25 followed by the arrest of two others the next. According to some estimates around 100 Indian have left to fight for the Islamic State mainly in Syria and Iraq. Most of these cases have been reported to police by the families of these youths.
In July 2016, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told the Assembly that 21 Muslim youths from the state had gone missing over a month, and it was suspected that they had joined the extremist group. Earlier, union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad highlighted the media sting on Popular Front of India (PFI), a Kerala-based Islamic party, and also refereed to 'love jihad' as he demanded a probe against its leaders.
He said they should be dealt more severely than Hurriyat leaders, who are being probed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for terror funding. Hurriyat is an umbrella organisation of many separatist parties in Kashmir.
The sting, Prasad said, has caught PFI founding members saying that they received funding from abroad and had converted over 5,000 persons to Islam, and an Islamic state was their final goal. "You in India are running a terrorist group with an aim of making an Islamic state by taking funds from abroad. Young sons and daughters are being radicalised for this. It is a very serious threat to the national security," he said.
The Information and Technology minister said the NIA was looking into cases of 'love jihad', adding that the agency should also investigate what the media report has highlighted. Prasad also made a reference to an alleged case of 'love jihad' being heard by the Supreme Court, which has ordered an NIA probe into the matter, and attacked the Left-led Kerala government's contention in the court that there should be no probe in the matter. The BJP, he maintained, was of the opinion that people can voluntarily convert but there should be no use of inducement, allurement or fear.
Due to the PFI's activities, life of common citizens of Kerala is under threat, the Union minister claimed, urging the state government to take pro-active measures in this regard. "If the Kerala government maintains silence on the issue, we will have to say that it is sacrificing national interest at the altar of vote bank politics," he said.
With inputs from PTI
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "ISIS")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}