New Delhi: As the centre imposed banned Muslim political organisation Popular Front of India (PFI) for allegedly carrying out terror activities in India, former Director General of Uttar Pradesh Police, Prakash Singh has suggested that the government must ensure effective follow-up action to avoid the resurgence of such organizations.
"Government must ensure effective follow-up action. Although the Government of India has so far taken a very comprehensive action and raided different places across the country, the follow-up action should not be half-hearted. Actions should be taken to nip such organisations in the bud," Singh told ETV Bharat.
Hailing the action taken against PFI, Singh said that it was the right step taken by the government. "However, this should have happened a long time ago. I don't know why the government took so much time. This organisation was involved in subversive activities and they managed to spread their network in different states," said Singh.
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He said that banning PFI, however, may not end the terror activities in India forever. "There are several other people associated with PFI who have not been rounded up. They may exhort terrorism and actions of sabotage here and there. We should be prepared for terror outrage," said Singh who also served as Director General of Border Security Force.
He cautioned that PFI would now activate its foreign channel and they will start massive propaganda claiming that India has persecuted Muslims. PFI is a refined version of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), a banned organization from the 1970s. In fact, after SIMI was banned in India, many of its leaders came together and formed PFI along with some other organizations.
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"The Government of India should use its foreign channels to give the right message to the global fraternity. Everybody should know that it's not action taken against a particular community, but against an organization trying to disintegrate India," said Singh. The Central Government through a Gazette Notification banned PFI terming it as an "unlawful association."
The government has banned it for a period of five years. Following the ban under the stringent anti-terror law UAPA, the properties, bank accounts of PFI would be seized now. Over 1300 criminal cases had been registered by police and NIA against cadres of PFI and its front organizations in different states. Some of the cases were also registered under the UAPA, the Explosives Substances Act, Arms Act and other sections of IPC.
