Police departments of various states and Union Territories have been asked to stay alert and deploy senior officers on ground to report any untoward incident after the government banned the Popular Front of India (PFI) and its affiliates for five years under the anti-terror law on Wednesday.
The police have been asked to identify offices of PFI and its affiliates mentioned in the notification by the home ministry and deploy officers and take necessary action.
According to sources, intelligence agencies have been asked to release inputs in view of any violent protest following the ban.
States such as Karnataka, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra are more vulnerable, where the PFI and its affiliates have more presence, and the local police have been asked to deploy sufficient staff at these offices.
“We have deployed additional forces in areas which have offices of PFI or its affiliates. People have been asked not to visit these places as PFI and its affiliates mentioned in the notification are banned. Soon, we will be taking appropriate action to close these places,” a senior police official of Kerala Police told News18.
Malappuram in Kerala, which has seen the highest number of arrests, with more than 100 leaders and functionaries arrested in raids, has heavy police deployment. The police also visited the Malabar House, which was too raided by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the nationwide crackdown, to check on the gathering outside.
PFI headquarters in southeast Delhi also saw heavy police presence, with announcements being made to educate the people on the PFI ban.
The government’s move to ban PFI followed the arrest of the outfit’s top brass, state-level leaders and hyper-local leaders in two rounds of raids.
News18.com had earlier reported that the government planned to arrest the leaders and cadres at all levels before imposing a ban. The state governments of Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Gujarat had recommended banning PFI.
The Ministry of Home Affairs, in its notification, said PFI and its affiliates were involved in disturbing communal harmony of the country and supporting militancy.
“The Central Government, having regard to the above circumstances, is of firm opinion that it is necessary to declare the PFI and its associates or affiliates or fronts as an unlawful association with immediate effect,” the gazette notification released on Tuesday said.
“Accordingly, in exercise of the powers conferred by the proviso to sub-section (3) of section 3 of the said Act, the Central Government hereby directs that this notification shall, subject to any order that may be made under section 4 of the said Act, have effect for a period of five years from the date of its publication in the Official Gazette,” MHA added.
With this order, the government has also banned PFI affiliates such as Campus Front of India (CFI), All India Imams Council (AIIC), National Confederation of Human Rights Organization (NCHRO), National Women’s Front, Junior Front, Empower India Foundation and Rehab India Foundation.
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