UP, Karnataka and Gujarat pushed for PFI ban, Amit Shah led the crackdown

NEW DELHI: The government on Wednesday declared the Popular Front of India (PFI) and its associates, affiliates or fronts - specifically naming eight of them - as "unlawful association" under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 for a period of five years.
The ban comes days after the National Investigation Agency, Enforcement Directorate and various state/UT police conducted a nationwide drive against PFI in cases relating to alleged terror activities, terror funding, terror training and radicalisation by its leaders Hundreds of PFI leaders and cadres have been arrested as part of the crackdown.
The eight "associates, affiliates or fronts" are Rehab India Foundation, Campus Front of India, All India Imams Council, National Confederation of Human Rights Organisation, National Women's Front, Junior Front, Empower India Foundation and Rehab Foundation, Kerala.

UP, K'taka & Guj pushed for PFI ban, Shah led the crackdown
The Union home ministry's ban on PFI, which has presence in 17 states, and its fronts was recommended by the governments of Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Gujarat. Leading the multi-agency, multi-state crackdown against the outfit was Union home minister Amit Shah, who, right from the days of PFI cadres allegedly infiltrating anti-CAA protests and allegedly radicalising protesters to incite violence in many parts, has been holding regular meetings with NIA, ED and intelligence agencies to identify the Islamic outfit's alleged terror network and review the body of evidence against it, before going after its entire leadership and formations.
"PFI and its associates or affiliates or fronts have been involved in violent terrorist activities with an intent to create a reign of terror in the country... hence an immediate and prompt action is required against the organisation," the Centre stated in the notification. Justifying the ban, it emphasised that PFI and its fronts, if not outlawed now, will continue their "subversive activities, undermining the constitutional set-up of the country; encourage and enforce terror-based regressive regime; continue propagating anti-national sentiments and radicalise a particular section of society with the intention to create disaffection against the country".
Hours after the ban, PFI announced disbanding of the outfit. Abdul Sattar, the outfit's Kerala general secretary, wrote on PFI's Facebook page that "as law-abiding citizens of the country, the organisation accepts the decision of the ministry of home affairs". PFI's political arm, SDPI, meanwhile, condemned the ban as a direct blow to democracy and the rights of people as enshrined in the Indian Constitution. Soon afterwards, Sattar was arrested.
The MHA has delegated powers to states to notify any place which it believes is used for unlawful activities by the banned organisation or its members.
The demand for the ban on PFI dates to 2010 when its activists chopped off the hand of a professor for alleged blasphemy. The adverse attention it attracted grew as it expanded beyond Kerala, leading to the demand for proscribing it. However, conscious that a long legal battle may be ahead, starting with a review of the ban by a UAPA tribunal and possibly going right up to the Supreme Court, the Centre weighed the evidence carefully and acted only after it was convinced that there was enough material to conclusively establish the involvement of its cadres in terror activities and terror funding while maintaining a trained cadre. Its dossier, sources said, also has strong evidence of attempts to target members of other communities, radicalisation of vulnerable persons and driving them to join terror outfits like IS. Evidence of alleged dubious transactions, both in India and abroad, collected by the ED, is seen as part of the "watertight" evidence against PFI, said a source.
Authorities in many states have looked at PFI as a rebadged version of Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), a practice not unusual when its comes to terror outfits facing action.