Muslim organization PFI stockpiling arms in Kerala

Haul hints at arms stockpiling

Special Correspondent

Police conduct raids on PFI, SDPI offices in Kannur

Bomb haul:A plastic bag containing crude bombs recovered from a plot at Punnad, near Iritty, in Kannur on Tuesday.

KANNUR: In day-long raids in 20 places across the district on Tuesday, the police seized 26 country-made bombs from the offices and other centres of the Popular Front of India (PFI) and its political arm, the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI).

Tuesday’s raids were a continuation of the exercise carried out in different places, including Edakkad and Thalassery, on Monday. Ten powerful country-made bombs, 12 swords, two axes and two knives were seized in Monday’s raids. According to the police, the latest haul of weapons from the PFI/SDPI centres is an indication that the outfit has been stockpiling weapons for some time. The raids, conducted as part of a State-wide operation, continued till afternoon.

The outfits have been under the police scanner following the assault on a Malayalam professor of Newman College, Thodupuzha, last week. The police said that 17 bombs were unearthed from a plot near an office of the SDPI at Punnad, near Iritty. The crude bombs were found buried in the plot. Punnad, a sensitive area, had witnessed violent incidents a few years ago. Eight powerful ‘steel’ bombs and a crude bomb were recovered from another plot at Parad, near Panur, under the Kolavallur police station limits. The police unearthed six swords from Payyannur and five iron rods near a PFI office at Manna, near Taliparamba.

The raids were conducted in PFI/SDPI offices in the Kannur municipal limits, Pappinissery and Narath. The police searched PFI offices at Thana, Anayidukku and Kannur city, a residential area in the municipality under the Kannur city police station limits.

In another development, the Thalassery police registered a case against 50-odd PFI workers for staging a demonstration in the town on July 12 in protest against the raids.

In Palakkad

Staff Reporter writes from Palakkad: The Special Branch police raided the offices of the SDPI and houses of its leaders in different parts of the district on Tuesday. The police raided the party’s offices in Alanaloor, Pattambi, Puduppariyaram and Koduvayur. The police did not reveal the outcome of the raid.

Protest march

Staff Reporter writes from Malappuram: Police raided the offices of the PFI and the SDPI at several places in the district on Tuesday. The raids on Kunnummal, A.R. Nagar, Kizhissery and Kidangazhi offices of the PFI and SDPI in Malappuram police division took several hours. Dozens of compact discs and bundles of leaflets were seized from the SDPI office at Kunnummal, Malappuram. Under Perinthalmanna police division, raids were conducted at Tirurkad, Parammel, Pandikkad, Anjachavadi and Chandakunnu. Raids were also held at Tirur, Ponnani, Edappal and Changaramkulam. The SDPI took out a march at major towns in the district on Tuesday evening in protest against the raids. They alleged that they were being targeted by the police without reason.

In Kozhikode

Around 30 raids were carried out in different police stations limits of the city on Tuesday. Documents, pamphlets and CDs were seized from the State committee office (Unity House) of the PFI, located near Mavoor Road.

PFI’s Plan To Convert Kerala Into A Muslim State In The Next 20 Years

Bid on to convert Kerala into a Muslim state: CM
Thiruvananthapuram, July 24, DHNS:

Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan on Saturday said that the radical outfit Popular Front of India (PFI) was aiming to convert Kerala into a Muslim-majority state in the next 20 years.

The chief minister’s revelation has raised many eyebrows as the police has been keeping under wraps all information they had unearthed in their continuing crackdown on the organisation following the ‘palm-chopping’ of a professor.

“The organisation has been pumping money to attract youths. They have also been trying to convert youths from other communities and persuading them to marry Muslim girls,’’ Achuthanandan told reporters in New Delhi.

The chief minister was responding to a question whether the ongoing crackdown would not prove counterproductive. Achuthanandan’s statement also points an accusing finger at the PFI for encouraging ‘love jihad’, something the organisation has been vehemently denying.

Several activists of the organisation have been arrested in the palm-chopping incident allegedly carried out to protest against the “insulting of the prophet” in a question paper. Incriminating literature, proof of big cash transactions and seditious CDs have been seized from the houses of PFI activists.

The chief minister said that such dangerous organisations should be isolated. The PFI was under the police scanner, which had already banned their annual statewide “freedom march” on August 15.

Meanwhile, Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said here that the police were trying to find out whether the PFI was a reincarnation of the banned SIMI.

“The organisation was trying to attract Muslim youths towards the path of terrorism. However, a majority are not following them. The state government’s policy was not to harass or victimise the Muslim community in the name of the ongoing investigations as the Opposition had alleged,” he said.