Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh STF on Monday arrested a man allegedly associated with the Popular Front of India (PFI) in the capital Lucknow. According to sources, the accused, Abdul Majid, was nabbed by an STF team caught from the Vibhutikhand bus stand in Lucknow while he was about to leave the city. Electronic gadgets and objectionable literature related to PFI and ISIS have been recovered from the accused, the STF said.
Majid has been accused of involving in proliferating the network of PFI by instigating Muslim youth. He is said to be the special friend of PFI leader Mohammad Wasim, who was earlier arrested from Indira Nagar in Lucknow. The role of the Popular Front of India (PFI) had first come to the fore in the year 2019 during the violent protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
Also read: PFI hartal: Widespread stone pelting, sporadic incidents of violence in Kerala
The organisation has been active in UP for about 15 years and was accused of working with the fundamentalists to instigate youth. Multi-agency teams spearheaded by the NIA had arrested 106 functionaries of the PFI on Thursday in near-simultaneous raids at 93 locations in 15 states for allegedly supporting terror activities in the country. Kerala, where PFI has some strong pockets, accounted for the maximum number of 22 arrests, officials said.
Kerala on Friday witnessed widespread stone pelting at public transport buses, damaging of shops and vehicles and sporadic incidents of violence in many places after the statewide dawn-to-dusk hartal called by radical Islamic outfit Popular Front of India (PFI) against the fresh raids. Hartal supporters took out protest marches, blocked vehicles and forcefully downed the shutters of shops in various places where the outfit has a strong presence.
Besides police personnel, some bus and lorry drivers and commuters suffered injuries in stone pelting and other related incidents. The Kerala High Court took a case on its own over PFI's hartal and subsequent sporadic incidents of violence in the state today. The court said holding hartals were banned by it earlier and the destruction of public property cannot be accepted.
The court also directed the state administration to take stern action against those who violate the court order banning hartals. In Erattupetta town of Kottayam district, police had to resort to lathi-charge to disperse hartal supporters when they tried to block the vehicles after gathering in large numbers, closed the shops and threatened the people, who were travelling on private vehicles.
