New Delhi: Even as Union Home Ministry banned the Popular Front of India (PFI) for five years, intelligence agencies suspect that the outfit may again resurface by another name. "There is apprehension about the resurgence of PFI. We have earlier witnessed similar things happening," said a senior intelligence official to ETV Bharat on Friday.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has been conducting raids across the country in search of members and activists of PFI. The official said that the main intention of such a search operation is to arrest the PFI cadres and members, who are still elusive. It is believed that the PFI was formed by some senior cadres of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) after it was banned by the the Central government in 2001. Following the inception of PFI, the outfit has been accused of being an offshoot of SIMI as several PFI co-founders were SIMI leaders, including PFI vice-chairman EM Abdul Rahiman, who was SIMI general secretary between 1983 and 1993.
Initially, the influence of PFI was only in Kerala, but subsequently, its presence was seen across different States in the country. As per the report, PFI had a presence in 23 States. "There is every possibility that the PFI members and cadres come together to form a new outfit. However, we are keeping a close tab on every aspect related to the PFI issue," the official said. Giving a similar instance from J&K, the official said that The Resistance Front (TRF) is also an Indian offshoot of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT). The TRF, which was formed with support from Pakistan aimed to evade the eyes of international monitoring agencies.
Apart from its ongoing raids and search operation against PFI, Indian security agencies are also looking over the terror funding angle involving PFI. Intelligence reports suggest that PFI members had earlier visited Turkey, a country, from where non-state actors were pumping money through hawala channels to support terrorism in India. "PFI members visited India. Of course, we are in constant touch with the Turkish authority and intelligence agencies so that we can unearth the money laundering route," the official said.
