National Investigation Agency had earlier nabbed two accused Syed Abuthagir and Mohammed Mubarak under section 18 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967 and u/s 302 of the IPC amongst other charges for the murder of Sasikumar, a Hindu activist. Sasikumar spokesperson of Hindu Munnani, was brutally murdered in 2016 by using aruvals (billhooks). The two accused were later found to be active members of the notorious Popular Front of India, an Islamic state linked organisation which used to recruit members for the terrorist organisation in India. The further raids conducted on the houses of four accused led to the seizure of shocking information- PFI donation receipts, PFI literature, PFI Unity March CDs, mobile phones, compact disks and pen drives, DVD of Zakir Naik of Islamic Research Foundation and other incriminating documents were recovered from the houses of the accused. Zakir Naik’s Islamic Research Foundation is already facing serious charges. PFI has been known to be an Islamic fundamentalist organisation and is the successor of National Development Front (NDF).
NDF merged with PFI in 2006 after it was accused of being a communal outfit and its members were found to be involved in violence during the 2002 Marad massacre. The then CPI state secretary in Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan had called NDF a ‘terrorist outfit’ that executed a ‘planned mass murder’. The links of NDF with the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) too have been proven as one of its Supreme Council members Professor P. Koya was also the founding member of SIMI. PFI continued the evil work started by NDF and reached new heights, raids conducted by Kerala police in 2013 found lethal weapons, human shooting targets, bombs and bomb making material along with arms and ammunitions at many centers of the PFI in North Kerala. NIA had also submitted some startling information regarding conduction of terror camps and bomb making classes done by PFI to the Union Home Ministry and is likely to be banned in the near future. PFI has also been accused of the murder of the RSS leader Rudresh in Bengaluru and the alleged plans to carry out terror attacks in South India.
Hence, it is not so surprising that Zakir Naik and his Islamic Research Foundation which is accused of conversion of gullible people has some links with the notorious PFI. Zakir Naik’s Islamic Research Foundation has already been outlawed by the anti-terror law for five years for its alleged terror activities. PFI too is likely to face one in the near future, even Kerala government has time and again raised demands for banning the PFI. The blood of Sasikumar and many other victims of communal riots and massacres from the southern states will be attributed to these organisations in the future. The NIA deserves praise for revealing the nefarious nature of these parties who works under the garb of protecting the rights of minorities.
It is important for us as citizens to realize the damage the ‘secular’ sections of the society do by promoting and protecting people like Zakir Naik. Digvijay Singh who had coined the term ‘Saffron Terror’ had once hugged Zakir Naik and had praised him as a champion of some sort. NIA’s findings have quashed the hopes of these pseudo-liberals and pseudo-seculars who are nothing more than disruptive forces working on Indian soil. Kudos to NIA and its efforts.