The Action of the Government came with such a sudden surprise that the PFI even didn’t get a chance to understand the sequence of things that happened to them.
Following the largest raid been conducted against the Popular Front of India (PFI), on 22nd September the Joint Teams of NIA and ED had arrested 106 members of PFI on the very first day of the raid across 15 states.
After few days of the back to back raids been conducted the Ministry of Home Affairs had imposed a ban of 5 years on 8 organizations including PFI and it’s student wing Campus Front of India(CFI). How this operation was conducted so silently that no one got a single hint about this Largest Action against PFI? How this operation became a Huge Success for NIA, ED and the state police involved in it? Let us know in this article.
The security agencies were concerned after the names of suspects associated with the PFI in cases related to violence and terror related activities in many states of the country for the last few months came in light. It became very necessary that strict action should be taken against the accused.
Government of India has finalized their mind to eliminate this problem which is becoming a threat to the nation with every passing day. But, Government wanted to avoid the chaos as a retaliation by the PFI supporters, so, they needed a full fledged plan of action so that the action must be implemended properly and they donot get a chance to disturb the dignity of the country.
The action took time, but it was unavoidable. The NIA had firstly targeted the main bodies because many times the main bodies forms new organization after their organistaion gets banned and starts operating again. So to avoid this Home Minister Amit Shah did high level meeting with the the Officers of the Security agencies including Chief of Intelligence Bureau- Tapan Deka, Research and Analysis Wing Chief- Samant Goel and National Security Advisor – Ajit Doval. Shah asked the agencies to gather all the important infomation related to PFI and it’s activities and the “Operation Octopus” activated with a green signal.
IB and R&AW had gathered all the necessary information related to PFI and it’s activities and it was then further transferred to the NIA and ED. After all the information got gathered the the execution of the biggest ever “Surgical Strike” against PFI took place. The whole operation was regularly monitored by Home minister Amit shah as well as NSA Ajit Doval.
RAID took place at total 93 places that was done by the joint teams of NIA, ED and State Police. More than 100 of suspects associated with were arrested including the General Secretary – Anis Ahmed. Security agencies had gathered all the necessary information about the Cadres of PFI who were threat to the nation.
Some of the Raid location were situated at the place where the lives of the Teams of NIA and ED was under threat, so to tackle this the raids were planned in accordance with the situation stating the threat and planned in such a manner that till the time when everyone will be aware of the raid, the teams would have returned to the headquarters safely. This planned worked and most of the teams returned to the headquarter taking the accused with them before 8 AM.
On 28 September The Centre imposed a Five year ban on the PFI and its’s associated entities under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967(UAPA). The associate organization includes; Rehab India Foundation(RIF), Campus Front Of India(CFI), All India Imams Council(AIIC), National Confederation of Human Rights Organization(NCHRO), National Women Front, Junior Front, Empower India and Rehab Foundation, Kerala.
In the notification, MHA said that some of the PFI’s founding members were the leaders of Student Islamic Movement of India(SIMI) and this organisation also had links with Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh(JMB) – Both the organisations are proscribed.
There have been instances of PFI having links with global terrorist groups such as Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Some of the PFI activists have joined ISIS and participated in terror activities in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
According to MHA PFI and it’s associates were also working to promote radicalization among one community and were promoting a sense of insecurity in the country.
MHA also said that the Government Of Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Karnataka recommended to ban PFI.
Operation Octopus had been successfully carried out , there are many challenges related to this are waiting further, threat of retaliation and formation new such organisation can also be planned. So Government now have to take actions and decisions very carefully and properly to handle the future instances.
