As the centre banned the Islamist organisation Popular Front of India (PFI) over its link with global terror outfits, including ISIS, the charge sheets filed by NIA in past cases against the group shone a light on its dangerous playbook—organising terror camps, hatching conspiracies, and engineering riots—as a part of its jihad against non-Muslims.
Narath PFI terror camp
Back in 2013, a group of people belonging to PFI/SDPI organised a terror camp at Narath, Kannur district, Kerala, and entered into a criminal conspiracy to impart training to youth for using explosives and weapons, intending to prepare them for carrying out terror activities.
However, the police got a tip-off about the terror camp underway at Narath and decided to raid the location. The police carried out a search operation on 24 March 2013 of the building owned by the Thanan Foundation, whose owner was the President of PFI, Kannur district. They found all the accused inside the building attending training in weapons and explosives.
The police recovered explosives, including 2 live bombs from the said location. The scrutiny of the bank accounts of some of the accused shed light on massive international transactions, revealing transnational involvement in organising the PFI terror camps in Kerala. Even the Enforcement Directorate found that PFI had raised substantial funds to organise terror camps in Kerala.
The investigations found that the SDPI/PFI leaders hatched the conspiracy to impart training in weapons and explosives to their cadres to retaliate against the alleged torture faced by Muslims in India, especially from the Hindus.
The NIA took over the case and invoked relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code against the 24 accused in the case.
2020 Bengaluru riots case
On August 11, 2020, a Muslim mob went on a rampage and unleashed mayhem in Bengaluru over a Facebook post, which was allegedly derogatory to Prophet Mohammad. The post was uploaded by one P Naveen, the nephew of Congress legislator Akhanda Srinivasa Murthy.
The frenzied mob of 200-300 Islamists vandalised the residence of the Congress MLA and set police vehicles on fire. They also attacked police personnel in DJ Halli and KG Halli with stones and deadly weapons. Government properties and the building of KG Halli police station were destroyed in the arson attack.
In September 2020, an independent fact-finding committee published chilling testimonies of a few Hindu survivors, which proved that Hindus were selectively targeted and their homes and vehicles were damaged in the pre-planned carnage.
During the deadly riots, 80 police officials sustained injuries. The Bengaluru police had arrested over 300 people in connection to the case and registered a total of 64 criminal cases.
One of the cases filed by the police was against Afnan, Muzammil Pasha, Syed Masood, and Ayaz for the destruction of public property.
As per the charge sheet filed by NIA, Pasha and Mohammed Sherif (SDPI President) were the key conspirators behind the riots that convulsed Bengaluru in August 2020. A provocative message was shared in a group, of which Pasha was one of the members. Instead of filing a complaint against Naveen, Pasha was found instigating the Muslim mob against him.
Naveen’s message was in response to a provocative video shared by Firdous Pasha in the group. Pasha knew well that Naveen would respond to the provocative video, and with this intention, he shared the incendiary clip with the group. Naveen’s response to the provocative video against Hindus was spread like a wildfire among Muslims to create unrest as Pasha desired to become a corporator and had joined the SDPI for the same reason.
SDPI Thanisandra ward convened a meeting on August 11 when the incident took place. Another WhatsApp group ‘brother’ shared video footage of happening outside the police station to further instigate the crowd. The investigating agencies later found that the majority of the accused were members of PFI and SDPI or gathered there on the call of PFI and SDPI leadership.
