Kochi (Kerala): The charge sheet filed by NIA is explosive. It has revealed that PFI members were preparing a hit list of non-Muslims. PFI leaders in Kerala were in touch with some of the ISIS and Al-Qaeda leaders. NIA has told this to a Kerala-based court. The court is hearing a case pertaining to the arrest of PFI leaders and members. Agencies have charged them under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act for indulging in arson and violent protests on September 22.
“The ISIS and Al-Qaeda terrorist organizations use the local anti-state and religious terrorist organizations. These organisations use locals for subversive activities in the countries where their direct operations are not possible. NIA has received indications that PFI leaders in Kerala were in touch with some of the IS and Al-Qaeda leaders. A more detailed investigation is required,” NIA said.
The premier investigating agency also said that a secret wing of PFI is working to prepare a hit list of people belonging to other communities. And that the PFI office is the centre of their activities. NIA also submitted that the PFI leaders used social media to get the youth involved in terrorist activities.
After NIA’s submissions, the court gave an additional 90 days to the investigating agency to wrap up the probe and file the charge sheet. NIA has booked as many as 13 people in the case filed in Kochi. According to the court’s decision, their judicial custody period has got an extension of 180 days.
PFI Ban
The Ministry of Home Affairs had banned the radical Islamic organisation on September 27 for a period of five years. For this the MHA exercised its powers under sub-section (1) of section 3 of the UAPA. By this time the information regarding hit list was not available to the agencies.
The government said that during the investigation, investigating agencies have established that PFI created associates or affiliates or fronts with an objective to enhance its reach “among different sections of the society such as youth, students, women, Imams, lawyers or weaker sections of the society with the sole objective of expanding its membership, influence and fundraising capacity.”
Recently, Karnataka police nabbed two members of PFI for strewing nails on road leading to Hindu Pilgrimage site Datta Peetha. So, the idea of a hit list should not surprise us.
