AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi has condemned the Centre’s five-year ban on PFI. ANI.
New Delhi: Soon after the Centre banned the Popular Front of India (PFI) and several of its associates for five years under a stringent anti-terror law, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi said though he had always opposed the PFI’s approach, yet the total ban on the outfit could not be supported.
With support for the five-year ban pouring in from across the political spectrum, Owaisi however, finds himself in a minority. “How come PFI is banned but organisations associated with convicts of Khaja Ajmeri bomb blasts aren’t? Why has the govt not banned right wing majoritarian organisations?” he tweeted.
“Actions of some individuals who commit crime does not mean that the organisation itself must be banned. The SC has also held that mere association with an organisation is not enough to convict someone,” he followed up with another tweet.
Reiterating his stand that the Centre’s approach to the PFI has been harsh, Owaisi said, “the ban on PFI cannot be supported.”
In another tweet harking back to minority community issues he pointed out, “Muslims have spent decades in prison before being acquitted by courts. I have opposed UAPA & will always oppose all actions under UAPA. It runs afoul the principle of liberty, which is part of basic structure of the constitution.”
In a late night notification on Tuesday, the Union Home Ministry said some PFI founding members are leaders of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and the PFI has links with Jamat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB). Both JMB and SIMI are proscribed organisations within the country.
Besides PFI, the associated organisations which were also banned under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) include Rehab India Foundation, Campus Front of India, All India Imams Council, National Confederation of Human Rights Organisation, National Women’s Front, Junior Front, Empower India Foundation and Rehab Foundation, Kerala.
After nationwide raids carried out by the National Investigation Authority (NIA) on Tuesday, at least 150 people allegedly with links to PFI were arrested in raids across seven states, five days after a similar pan-India crackdown against the 16-year-old outfit that had led to the arrest of over a hundred of its activities and seizure of several properties.
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