The BJP led Jharkhand government placed a ban on violent Islamist outfit PFI after calling its members as influenced by the ISIS. An official directive to this tune was issued by the government on Tuesday with a message that the action was taken in accordance with a proposal by the home department, which was approved by the law department.
As per the release, the organisation which is active in Pakur district of the state, has members which are internally influenced by the ISIS. A inquiry carried by the special branch also has revealed that some of its members from south India secretly went to fight for the ISIS, a fact which has also been reported in the media.
It seems that the PFI even tried to normalise itself in the state by putting up posters for a let’s go to school campaign in Pakur but the posters were taken down after the police conducted a flag march for a couple of days.
As per Dinesh Kumar Singh, the Principal Secretary (Law), this decision to ban PFI was taken based on reports of their increased activity.
The PFI in recent years has been accused of carrying out various violent activities. This includes chopping off hands of a Kerala Professor for allegedly insulting Islamic Prophet Mohammed in Kerala.
It has also been accused by the National Investigative Agency (NIA) of being involved in the controversial ‘love jihad’ cases in Kerala. In recent days, activists of its political arm SDPI were arrested in connection with an ABVP worker’s brutal murder in Kerala’s Kannur. Their violent nature also extends to Karnataka where they were accused of attacking a Hindu boy and Muslim girl in Mangalore. The BJP has been demanding a ban on PFI which it claims is responsible for killing Hindu activists in Dakshina Kannada district.
Despite the threat the organisation poses, the governments of Kerala and Karnataka have refused to ban it.
About a week back, MOS Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju was quoted as saying that Kerala had demanded a ban on PFI, this though was soon refuted by the state’s Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who claimed that if any communal outfit needs to be banned, it was the RSS.
Karnataka’s Home Minister too ruled out any immediate ban on PFI by claiming that there was no immediate proposal for the same. The Congress government in the state had even notched a controversy in 2015 by proposing to withdraw 175 cases against the PFI.