E-Paper
PFI role in anti-CAA protests put it in sights of U.P. police
At least 25 PFI office-bearers and active members were arrested in connection with the violence reported during the anti-CAA protest in December, 2019
Activities of the Popular Front of India (PFI) have all but stopped as none of their front offices are operational and most members and sympathisers have either been placed under house arrest or have gone missing.
The development follows the arrest of 68 office-bearers and active members of PFI from Lucknow and other parts of Uttar Pradesh.
The action against PFI was initiated in the state in 2019 when its Lucknow office in Vikas Nagar was closed fearing action by the police. At least 25 office-bearers and active members were arrested in connection with the violence reported during the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protest in December, 2019 and thereafter, the U.P. police have been carrying out regular action against the organisation and its members. Since then, PFI members have been operating from their hideouts and there was no specific office operational in the state.
Moreover, the U.P. police had recommended a ban on the PFI in December, 2019 itself when its role allegedly surfaced in inciting violence during the anti-CAA protests. Besides, four members of PFI including a journalist Siddique Kappan was arrested from Mathura on their way to Hathras district of UP in October, 2020 for their alleged involvement in hatching conspiracy to incite caste violence in the backdrop of the gang rape and murder of a 19-year-old Dalit girl in Hathras.
The organisation’s legal consultant, Saleem, did not respond to multiple calls, but a sympathiser of the organisation, advocate Mohd Shoaib, chairman of Rihai Manch, an organisation fighting against atrocities on Muslims, said the ban was put in place as the PFI was outspoken against the policies of government.
At least 10 office-bearers and active members of PFI were arrested, including one each from Sarvodaya Nagar, Indira Nagar and Madeyganj and seven others from the city outskirts from Bakshi Ka Talab area. Out of the 10 arrests in Lucknow, one Ahmad Beg Nadvi arrested from the Madeyganj area was from Muslim-dominated areas while others arrested were from mixed population areas of Lucknow district, sources said.
During the nationwide crackdown on PFI on September 22, one Waseem Ahmad was arrested from Sarvodaya Nagar, Indira Nagar in Lucknow by the NIA. While the UP Special Task Force (STF) arrested Ahmad Beg Nadvi from Madeyganj, Lucknow and two others alleged PFI members Mohd Nadeem Ansari of Barabanki and Mohd Kamruddin of Bahraich were arrested from Kursi police station area in Barabanki on September 23. Later, six others were arrested, including four from Meerut and two from Varanasi on September 24. And 57 alleged PFI members were arrested from 26 different districts of the state during the statewide crackdown on PFI on Tuesday.
