On September 27, the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, exercised its powers under sub-section (1) of Section 3 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967 (UAPA) to ban the Islamist organization Popular Front of India (PFI) and its connected or affiliated fronts with immediate effect for a period of five years. During several raids at PFI offices across the country, the investigating agencies have recovered incriminating documents and other material that led to the ban. In the detail of the raids provided by the home ministry, it has been learnt that PFI’s General Secretary Anis Ahmed had openly supported and hailed Hamas, an international terrorist organization.
PFI and Hamas connection
According to a note released by the Home Ministry giving details of the raids on PFI, its General Secretary Anis Ahmed had openly supported and praised Hamas. The document also states that several PFI leaders like National Executive Council member P Koya, EM Abdul Rahiman, a vice president and others were hosted by The Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Aid (İnsan Hak ve Hürriyetleri ve İnsani Yardım Vakfı or IHH), an Al-Qaida linked Turkish charity organisation.
Hamas is the Palestinian Islamic fundamentalist terror organisation which is the de facto ruler of the Gaza Strip. The group holds a majority in the parliament of the Palestinian National Authority. Hamas regularly indulges in terror activities by targeting civilians in Israel through indiscriminate rocket attacks. Hamas is designated as a terrorist organisation by several countries including The European Union, the United States, Canada, Israel, Japan, Australia, the United Kingdom etc.
The ministry note states that the list of PFI’s links with other Islamic terror organisations is so long that it will take at least dozens of pages just to describe them.
Muslim Brotherhood & PFI connection 2 :
— Vidyut Date (@VidyutDate) September 24, 2022
In 2012, PFI President declared that it follows Hamas model, a Muslim Brotherhood “Militant Wing”.
@AmitShah @HMOIndia @narendramodi @DrSJaishankar @AjitKumarDoval1 pic.twitter.com/kagQ11gvBa
Arndt Emmerich, a German postdoctoral research scholar at the Max Weber Institute for Sociology at the University of Heidelberg, wrote explicitly about the core inspiration of the PFI.
“The PFI chairman encouraged me to research ‘what sort of Islam has impacted our movement: Why are we not like the Tablighi Jamaat or the Salafis? We resemble Hamas, a religiously motivated community organization.'” he wrote in his book, Islamic Movements in India (Chapter: ‘Islamic Pragmatism and Legal Education,’ page-153).
Furthermore, on page 4 of the PFI’s India-2047 ‘internal’ document, it is stated that “we would employ violence selectively to demonstrate our might and terrorize our opponents while limiting exposure of our trained cadres to security forces.” Those with talent will be identified and recruited from among all cadres receiving PE to receive advanced training in weaponry, including firearms and explosives.”
Taking inspiration from Hamas, PFI provided secret training in the use of weapons and explosives against opponents in order to demonstrate the power and engage them in a pointless conflict in order to deplete the opponent’s resources and military force.
What is Hamas?
Hamas emerged in the 1980s and made its mark in 1987 when it spearheaded the first Intifada or Palestinian rebellion against Israel. Hamas means zeal in Arabic, but it is also an abbreviation for Harakat al-Muqawamah al-Islamiyyah, or the Islamic Resistance Movement, in Palestine.
Hamas opposes the Palestinian Authority’s and the United Nations’ two-state solution. Both Israel and Palestine are guaranteed to exist under the peace agreement. Hamas refuses to acknowledge Israel’s right to exist.
Hamas has a long history of violating human rights. During Israel’s military offensive in the besieged area in 2014, a UK-based human rights organization accused Hamas of committing atrocities against Palestinian political opponents. According to the report, Hamas unlawfully killed at least 23 people, including six persons who were arrested during the conflict and killed in public.
It also accused the group of kidnapping and attacking “members and supporters” of Fatah, Gaza’s main political opposition, as well as former Palestinian Authority security officers, which control the occupied West Bank.
In the 2021 stand-off between Israel and Palestine, Soumya Santhosh, an Indian nurse from Kerala was killed in a Hamas rocket strike at Ashkelon in Israel.
During the 11-day conflict between Israel and Gaza, Hamas and other similar groups launched at least 4,360 rockets and mortars at Israel. Of those, 3,573 landed in Israeli territory, 280 landed in the Mediterranean, and a significant 680 landed in Gaza (according to the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, or ITIC). Hamas rockets killed several Israelis and Palestinians.
By banning the Islamist organization PFI, the Modi government has thwarted a potential Hamas-like threat PFI would have posed to India’s unity, integrity, and sovereignty.
