The Extremist Threat: RSTV

Context:

• The Uttar Pradesh (UP) Government has written to the Union Home Ministry seeking a ban on Popular Front of India (PFI). 
• This was the result of two dozen PFI members being arrested from various parts of the state for their alleged involvement in violence and instigating protestors to clash with the police during the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
• The State Police has impounded objectionable materials from those who were arrested and have sent a detailed report to the Home Ministry for further course of action. 

Larger Background:

• The PFI was set up in 2006. It was set up as a successor of the:
  • National Development Fund (NDF) in Kerala
  • Manitha Neethi Pasarai (MNP) in Tamil Nadu and,
  • Karnataka Forum for Dignity (KFD) in Karnataka.
• The group thereby has the advantage of possessing an inter-state dimension.
• It describes itself as a cadre-based movement working for the socio-economic welfare of the Muslim community. It also claims to be working for upholding the human rights of the underprivileged communities in the country.
• Intelligence inputs have unearthed country-made bombs, weapons, several documents containing Taliban and Al-Qaeda propaganda from PFI activists. The group has been called as an offspring of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). 
  • SIMI is a banned terrorist organization, which operated predominantly from UP and was subsequently banned in 2001.
• The group has been charged for several crimes and for plotting various Anti-National activities. 
• Jharkhand State Government banned the group in 2019 under the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 1908 to curb the spread of violence and Anti-National activities, as the group was found to have connections with other terrorist groups like ISIS.
  • The group has been termed as a militant, extremist group with a subversive agenda.
• Over the years, several other organizations have joined the PFI giving it an edge of having access to most of the states in the country and forming a stronger and unified front. Some of the organizations which merged with the PFI are:
  • Goa’s Citizen’s Forum
  • Rajasthan’s Community Social and Educational Society
  • Manipur’s Lilong Social Forum
  • Andhra Pradesh’s Association of Social Justice and,
  • West Bengal’s Nagarik Adhikar Suraksha Samiti
• The PFI has come into the spotlight for instigating violence during the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and CAA protests in 2019. 

Extremist Religious Organization or a Terror outfit?

• The intelligence inputs have established the connections of the group with terrorist organizations, like ISIS. 
• They’ve also found evidence that the group promotes ‘Jihad’ and that its members have been conducting discussions and classes on the same. 
• Their cadre attacks the right-wing organizations in the country, and most of their attacks are communal or political in nature.
• They have not taken up or involved themselves in large-scale terror attacks against the civilians, which is the objective of terrorist groups like LeT. Hence, the group has been categorized as an extremist religious organization.

Cases involving PFI:

• In India, the PFI has been accused of being involved in several political killings, religious conversions apart from links to ISIS. 
• The most infamous attack by the PFI was the severing of the hand of TJ Joseph, a professor at Newman College, Kerala for hurting the religious sentiments of Muslim students.
• The PFI has also been accused of running a terror training camp in Kerala, where Muslim youths were trained in explosives and arms.
• According to the report submitted to the Kerala High Court, the PFI members were actively involved in 27 murder cases and 86 attempt to murder cases, mostly of the cadres of Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
• PFI offices were raided as Indian intelligence officers suspected that the organisation had played a part in radicalising the masterminds of the Sri Lankan Easter bombings on 21 April 2019, which killed over 250 people. 
• In 2012, the PFI was accused of being part of a hate campaign after major riots at Kokrajhar in Assam. 
• The PFI members in Karnataka have been allegedly involved in four political murders of RSS workers.

Issues:

• The PFI hides behind the cover of human rights groups, claiming to be a group advocating social change and standing up for the underprivileged section of the society in the country. This makes it difficult for Law enforcement agencies to take strict action against them or, to even prove their involvement in anti-national activities.
• PFI acts as a cross-linking platform and as a connecting bridge between the terrorist organizations. PFI has been banned in Jharkhand due to their connections with ISIS.
• The organization often hijacks issues in the public domain for their own agenda.
  • This involves instigating the misinformed civilians to protest on public issues creating a disruption of peace and in some situations destruction of public property. 
• The funding for such organizations has to be controlled by the Government. There is a lot of money which flows in, as donations from various parts of the world. These donations have to be monitored.

Way Forward:

• • Political will must be present to act on the available information. Sufficient evidence is available, therefore, the accused must be booked under the appropriate sections for their respective crimes. The civil servants must recognize their responsibility and present the facts involved, rather than ignoring the intricate details on grounds of sensitivity.

• Ban such groups under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 2019- UAPA, 2019. The UAPA Act’s main objective was to make powers available for dealing with activities directed against the integrity and sovereignty of India.

• • The UAPA Act of 1967 defined terrorist organizations but did not define an individual terrorist. The UAPA Amendment Act, 2019 was introduced to designate individuals as terrorists on certain grounds provided in the Act.
  • Section 3 –Declaration of an association as unlawful: gives the Central Government the right to declare an association as unlawful. 
    • ‘If the Central Government is of opinion that any association is, or has become, an unlawful association, it may, by notification in the Official Gazette, declare such association to be unlawful.”
    • “No such notification shall have effect until the Tribunal has, by an order made under section 4, confirmed the declaration made therein and the order is published in the Official Gazette.”
  • Section 4 –Reference to Tribunal: after issuing a notification under Section 3, the Central Government shall refer the notification to a Tribunal for the purpose of adjudicating whether or not there is sufficient cause for declaring the association unlawful.
• Foreign contributions must be regulated: almost 60% of the foreign contributions went to Christian groups, 20-28% went to Islamic groups and the rest went to organizations involved in public interest litigations and human rights groups. The flow of income to such groups and organizations, in accordance with the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA), must be regulated. 

Conclusion:

The Government of India should take cognizance of the gravity of the issue and come down with a heavy hand on the PFI. It should also take steps to monitor the funding and the activities of other similar organizations. The individuals responsible for such crimes must be booked under appropriate sections, thereby preventing the spread of anti-national activities and violence.