The Popular Front of India (PFI), a Kerala-based radical Islamist outfit affiliated to the banned terror organisation, the Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), which was at the forefront of anti-CAA riots in Delhi last month and violence across the country has again come into spotlight for even more terrifying reasons.
As per latest reports, one of the Kabul Gurudwara attackers already identified as Mohammed Muhsin, a resident of Kannur, Kerala was an active member of the PFI. In fact, he was radicalised by the radical Islamist outfit before he joined the ISIS, and thus the PFI-ISIS links have again come to the surface.
PFI has been leading the process of radicalisation in the state of Kerala for quite some time now. It has been very active in promoting Jihad and classes on Jihad are conducted by some of its members. In these classes, the PFI even preaches that killing right-wing activists who oppose Islam would provide them ‘religious rewards in the afterlife’.
Unsurprisingly, Kabul Gurudwara attack is not the only one, there have been frequent cases of PFI activists getting involved with global terror organisations. There have been reports about PFI activists joining the ISIS, and a Times Now investigation had suggested that some of the organisations funding radical Islamist, PFI, have also been linked to the global terrorist organization, the Al-Qaeda.
Within India, PFI has been constantly on the radar of intelligence agencies. In September 2017, the National Investigation Agency had submitted a report on the PFI to the ministry, claiming that the group has been involved in terror acts, including running terror camps and making bombs, and it was a fit case to be declared banned under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
But the magnitude of the threat posed by PFI rises exponentially when a fidayeen attack kills twenty-five Sikh devotees in Afghanistan including an Indian national at a Kabul Gurudwara.
This exposes treacherous faultlines that the Taliban-ISI combine might try to use in order to drive India out of Afghanistan at a time when Taliban looks upon New Delhi as a threat for the latter supports the democratically elected civilian government in the war-scarred country.
In order to get a terrorist from the Indian soil lured into committing the attack, the Lashkar e Taiba (LeT) and the Haqqani Network who carried out the Gurudwara attack allowed the Islamic State Khorasan (ISKP) to take credit for committing the terror attack in Kabul, and also propagate that it was carried out in order to avenge Indian “actions” in Kashmir, actions that these radicalised minds view as objectionable.
The stated object of avenging “actions” in Kashmir was clearly a mere eyewash. Why would the ISKP kill Afghan Sikhs, if they had to take revenge for “actions” in Kashmir? How does it make any sense?
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What the PFI ‘activist’ did was to blow himself into smithereens having played into the hands of the ISI and Lashkar e Taiba, thinking that he was doing it for Kashmir, while the Taliban-ISI combine used him to pursue their own goals in Afghanistan.
What this essentially means is that while PFI runs terror factories in India creating more and more radicalised minds in Kerala, the ISI and other forces will try to entice them into harming and even removing Indian interests in Afghanistan which both the Taliban and ISI look at as major threats.
This also solves manpower issues for the anti-India forces in Afghanistan as they can use unworthy Indians like the PFI activist-turned-fidayeen to harm Indian interests in Afghanistan.
Remember, Taliban remains a supremacist and racist Islamist organisation that would look down upon terrorists emanating from the Indian soil, and would prefer sacrificing them for such attacks on any given day, while these terrorists remain in the illusion that they are giving up their lives for Kashmir.
India cannot afford her own soil to be used for harming her interests in Afghanistan and elsewhere. SIMI, to which the PFI is affiliated has been banned since 2001, why shouldn’t the PFI be banned too when there is clear evidence of the organisation preaching Islamism and abetting terrorism?
PFI footprints were all over the place during anti-CAA violence and now it is emerging as a major security threat to India in the strategically located Afghanistan. It is time the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) takes cognizance of its nefarious activities and bans it, or at least takes stern action against it.
