Sep. 28 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Popular Front of India (PFI) has announced its dismantling after the Indian Ministry of the Interior issued a decree on Wednesday to ban the political group a day after the arrest of more than 170 of its members for urging extremism to Muslim youth.
The PFI has explained in a statement that the Ministry of the Interior has transferred the prohibition to them in an informative note, after which the movement, and the groups associated with it, have decided to cease their activity, assuring that, “as citizens who respect the law”, accept the decision.
The general secretary of the PFI in the state of Kerala, Abdul Sattar, who has published the statement on the group’s Facebook profile, has subsequently been arrested by the Indian authorities, according to the ANI news agency.
The Indian political group explained on Wednesday on its official Twitter profile that the more than 170 arrests carried out by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in at least 15 states, on September 22, were a “witch hunt” by the central government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “It’s quite natural and expected under this autocratic system,” he stressed.
The PFI emerged in Kerala in 2006 after the merger of three smaller Muslim organizations. The Modi government claims that the group has Islamist links — especially with the Islamic Student Movement — and finances terrorism through propaganda and training.
Clashes between Hindus and Muslims are frequent in India. In February, several institutions refused to admit female students wearing hijabs — and they are part of the Muslim minority — following an order from the Ministry of Education.
On the other hand, about 2 percent of the Indian population is Christian, and attacks by radical Hindus have increased in recent years. Since the Hindu nationalist BJP party came to power in 2014, attacks on Christians have increased by 60 percent, according to a report by the organization Persecution Relief.
