Activities of banned PFI members in Tamil Nadu: Sleeper cell trying to trick youth, police on high alert after information from intelligence agencies

Tamil Nadu Police is on high alert after receiving information from central intelligence agencies about the presence of some Islamic organizations. Intelligence agencies have reported that after the ban on Popular Front of India (PFI), some human rights groups are conducting programs on human rights and police action. The agencies have warned that such organizations are actually fronts of former PFI members trying to regroup.

Sources in the Tamil Nadu Police told the agency that these groups were trying to influence the educated youth on campus with Islamic ideology. Although people are shying away from them due to the ban imposed on PFI, but still some youths are becoming their target.

Organizing former members of PFI

Central agencies have warned the state police that some sleeper cells in Tamil Nadu are supporting the activities of these ‘paper’ organisations. These groups are focusing on human rights and are against ‘police atrocities’. Agencies say they are mobilizing former PFI members for further action in Tamil Nadu.

receiving funds from abroad
According to a senior official of the Central Intelligence Agency, these organizations are getting funds from outside the country and some hawala operators are being used to route the money.
Some Tamil Muslims of West Asia are supporting them. The agencies are trying to trace how much money is being transferred.

Tamil Nadu Safe Haven
Islamic organizations consider Tamil Nadu as a safe haven as the DMK government in the state opposes the central government and is at loggerheads with the Center on several issues. The agencies said that Kerala would have been a better destination for them but these organizations left it as Kerala has been earlier on the radar of security agencies and media due to Islamic organizations. The first incarnation of PFI, NDF was also formed in Kerala.

Many districts under the surveillance of intelligence agencies
According to central agencies, there is not much media publicity about Islamic movements in Tamil Nadu and hence, Islamists are trying to build a strong base there. Members of the Sri Lankan militant organization LTTE have links with international drug trafficking networks such as the Haji Ali network. Central agencies are trying to get information on whether the newly created groups have already joined, or are trying to join.
Several places in Tamil Nadu like Coimbatore, Tiruchi, Namakkal, Kanyakumari and Theni are under strict vigil by intelligence agencies and police to trace the activities of these organizations.

History of PFI
The roots of the PFI can be traced back to the 1992 movement to protect the interests of Muslims following the demolition of the Babri Masjid. In 1994, Muslims in Kerala established the National Development Fund (NDF). Since its inception, the NDF strengthened its roots in Kerala and its popularity grew and the organization’s involvement in communal activities also came to the fore. In 2003, NDF workers were arrested for killing 8 Hindus at Marad beach in Kozhikode. After this incident, BJP made allegations of NDF having links with ISI, which could not be proved.

Apart from Kerala, organizations working for Muslims were also active in the South Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Organizations named Karnataka Forum for Dignity i.e. KFD in Karnataka and Manitha Neeti Pasarai (MNP) in Tamil Nadu were working for Muslims at the grassroots level.

The names of these organizations were also involved in violent activities. After a meeting held in Delhi in November 2006, the NDF and these organizations merged to become the PFI. In this way PFI came into existence in the year 2007 and today this organization is working in 20 states.

Now PFI is an organized network having presence in more than twenty states of the country. PFI has a national committee and states have separate committees. It has workers at the ground level. The members of the committee are elected by election held every three years. In 2009, PFI formed its own political party SDPI (Social Democratic Party of India) and student organization CFI (Campus Front of India).

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