BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS

[chachachoudhary]

Blood on their hands


Shaju Philip
Tags : T J Joseph, PFI, Kerala, Muslim

Posted: Sun Jul 11 2010, 01:45 hrs

Last week, T J Joseph, a lecturer, was on his way back from Sunday Mass when a group of men waylaid his car at Muvattupuzha in Ernakulam district. Joseph, a Malayalam lecturer at the Catholic-run Newman College in Thodupuzha, in Kerala’s Idukki district, was dragged out and his right hand chopped off in one deft stroke. Joseph had ‘paid with his hand’ for allegedly insulting the Prophet in a question paper he set for an internal degree exam.


Here in Kerala’s deeply fragmented political landscape, where chopping a limb off or even killing someone is almost a prescribed way to deal with rivals, this looked like another cold-blooded attack.


But it was not. It was so meticulously planned that the assailants could have erased their fingerprints. They almost did.


The vehicle used for the attack was bought from Thrissur, a town that’s over 100 km away. The money was paid in cash and the transfer of ownership was delayed despite repeated reminders from the original owner. The plan was to break down the vehicle and sell it off as scrap after the attack. But the police intercepted the vehicle while it was on its way to the scrapyard.

A conspiracy that was planned to perfection was slowly unravelling—along with it, the story of a shadowy organisation that masquerades as a social and political organisation, the Popular Front of India (PFI), a right-wing Muslim outfit based in Kozhikode that has silently spread its influence over much of the state.


Soon after the attack, police arrested two PFI activists, Jaffar and Asharaf. Both have worked in Saudi Arabia and have gone back several times. A senior police officer told The Sunday Express that the police are investigating whether they are linked to CAM Basheer, a former SIMI leader and one of India’s most wanted, who is believed to be in that country and who, like Jaffar and Asharaf, is from Ernakulam. Among the stuff seized in a raid at the house of Kunjumon, a PFI activist who went into hiding after the attack on the lecturer, is an Al-Qaeda video with footage of torture and executions.



... contd.

Blood on their hands

 

[chachachoudhary]

continued......

Today, 17 years after it began as a grouping of former SIMI activists, PFI has emerged as one of the most potent right-wing organisations in the state. The outfit, which claims to empower Muslims, has a sizeable cadre-strength and puts its cadres through intense physical and ideological training sessions.

“We, as an organisation, have managed to send out a message that we are here to counter the police version on terrorism cases involving Muslims,’’ said PFI general secretary Abdul Hameed.

Among the different roles that PFI has assumed over the years—social crusader, moral police, champion of Muslim and Dalit causes and a media organisation (with its newspaper Thejas)—is that of being the Muslim answer to the RSS. Over the years, PFI cadres have taken on the Sangh Parivar on the streets, resulting in bloody bouts of violence.

In 2005, RSS Kannur district baudhik pramukh T Ashwini Kumar was hacked to death while he was in a bus at Iritty in Kannur. The next year, the Thiruvananthapuram district leader of the Hindu Co-ordination Committee, N Sunil Kumar, was killed at Kilimanoor in Thiruvananthapuram in a hit-and-run attack. More attacks followed, including the murders of two RSS workers in the communally sensitive Tirur town.

“Although the PFI has managed for itself a respectable face in society through its various interventions, including its media venture, the organisation is still secretly following the SIMI style of functioning. The PFI targets all political activists who dare to stand against it,’’ said a senior intelligence officer.

“The PFI has been trying to exploit the sentiments of Muslims in Kerala by highlighting the insecurities community members face in North India. This organisation puts on many masks to win the support of the backward classes,’’ said Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) all-India president and CPI(M) state committee member P Sreeramakrishnan.

Now both the IUML, and the CPI(M) are accusing each other of going soft on the PFI. “CPI(M) politburo member and home minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan had got the open support of the PFI during the last assembly elections. The PFI had actively campaigned for Balakrishnan and its newspaper had carried his advertisement soliciting votes. Kerala is paying the price for the home minister’s soft approach towards the PFI,’’ says IUML leader K M Shaji.

Now both the IUML, and the CPI(M) are accusing each other of going soft on the PFI. “CPI(M) politburo member and home minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan had got the open support of the PFI during the last assembly elections. The PFI had actively campaigned for Balakrishnan and its newspaper had carried his advertisement soliciting votes. Kerala is paying the price for the home minister’s soft approach towards the PFI,’’ says IUML leader K M Shaji.

continued......

 

[chachachoudhary]

continued.....

Sreeramakrishnan, in turn, blamed the IUML. “During the previous Congress regime, the IUML had asked the police to withdraw 36 criminal cases against the PFI. Unless the IUML takes a tough stand, PFI will keep growing in strength and pose a threat to the state,’’ he says.

The moral wing of the PFI has opened a new battle-front with Christian-run schools in the state. Schools, especially in North Kerala, are accusing the PFI of forcing them to allow Muslim girl students to wear headscarfs and let boys attend namaz. Under pressure to take up the ‘community cause’, other Muslim organisations have joined in.

The issue got a head-start this year after the district administration in Alappuzha suspended a principal of a higher secondary school for issuing a transfer certificate to a student who insisted on wearing a maftha or headscarf.

Christian school managements in Kerala have been deliberately denying Muslim girls their right to wear the headscarf,’’ says Hameed.



“Muslim students and their parents do not have any complaints about the school’s dress code. While enrolling a student, the school clearly explains that girls are not allowed to wear the maftha in classrooms. Besides, the PTA, including the parents of the Muslim students, too has decided to stick to the uniform,’’ says Fr Joseph Puthussery, manager of San Jose CBSE school, Thalassery, Kannur district.

At the St Jemma’s Higher Secondary School in Malappuram, the PFI wanted the management to let girls wear salwar kameez instead of skirts. Of the 1,600 students at St Jemma’s, around 700 are Muslims.

PFI’s venture into the media business has helped it spread its agenda further. In 2006, the PFI brought out Thejas, the fifth Malayalam daily representing the Muslim community. Thejas has its distinct language and pet themes. For instance, ‘Kashmiri militants’ are referred to as ‘fighters’. The newspaper carries dramatic stories about the “life of victims of police atrocities”, violation of human rights, fake encounters and regularly features anti-West rants.

 

[Iggy]

Its a sad reality now in Kerala..we used to boast about high literacy rate and high social standards a lot..now look at we stoop down in to??trying to have a Taliban style execution in the broad day light...Kerala is now in the news for all the wrong reason now a days..a issue which has to be ended with the suspension of the teacher now grown out of propotion ..But the good thing is we are able to find out the bad apples in the society people including a doctor was arrested in anti national activities and find arms and other anti national articles in many places..And also another good thing is that there was a meeting between muslims and christain leaders just after this attack and make sure that it will not spread in to a religious riot ..

 

[RobbieS]

Its a sad reality now in Kerala..we used to boast about high literacy rate and high social standards a lot..now look at we stoop down in to??trying to have a Taliban style execution in the broad day light...Kerala is now in the news for all the wrong reason now a days..a issue which has to be ended with the suspension of the teacher now grown out of propotion ..But the good thing is we are able to find out the bad apples in the society people including a doctor was arrested in anti national activities and find arms and other anti national articles in many places..And also another good thing is that there was a meeting between muslims and christain leaders just after this attack and make sure that it will not spread in to a religious riot ..

Seiko, I have recently read a lot about the activities of the Popular Front of India, a Kozhikode based Muslim hard line group founded by ex-SIMI activists. I believe its people were responsible for the attack on the professor? Are they pretty powerful all over Kerala, or is it the traditionally Muslim Malabar areas?

 

[Iggy]

Seiko, I have recently read a lot about the activities of the Popular Front of India, a Kozhikode based Muslim hard line group founded by ex-SIMI activists. I believe its people were responsible for the attack on the professor? Are they pretty powerful all over Kerala, or is it the traditionally Muslim Malabar areas?

They are not powerful all over Kerala but in traditional Muslim areas they have significant support but a lot of muslims here in Kerala also dont like them because of their hard core activities..They are the same people who are responsible for the attack on professor..The issue was settled in a peaceful way but it was PFI who ignited the issue again..There were reports that PFI has active links with LeT and ISI..and one guy was arrested in Bangladesh and handed over to India..he was recruiting people for money from here for training to fight against Indian forces in Kashir and 4 of them were gunned down by Indian forces in Kashmir..

Our current government was soft to them due to vote bank politics and now they become strict and action is taking against them..now a days lots of raids and catching lot of people and arms from different areas..some of them are highly educated as Doctors and many of them used to work in Saudi Arabia..

 

[merajahmed]

If this not stop in time the situation will be more worst than now. I hope they must be enjoying some kind of political back and also no one in India wants any Indian Taliban in Kerala.

 

[chachachoudhary]

Kerala: Parties loved to rub shoulders with NDF

KOZHIKODE: The National Development Front, after getting a firm foot in Kerala, tried to spread its wings outside the state by the end of 2000. By this time it had set up a number of feeder organizations such as the Kerala Women’s Front, Campus Front, Confederation of Human Rights Organisations and All India Imams Council.


It had got entry into respected Muslim bodies like the All India Muslim Personal Law Board and the All India Milli Council and established links with some Muslim organisations outside the country.

The Popular Front of India was formed after merging with the Karnataka Forum for Dignity and the Manitha Neethi Pasarai in Tamil Nadu. NDF convinced the Muslim organisations in other parts of the country the need for an outfit that would not be cowed by the intimidation of the Sangh Parivar or the intelligence agencies. The NDF cited its own experience of challenging organisations like the RSS and CPM in their own den.

The Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) was formed ostensibly to `politically empower’ the Muslim community in India. The party was launched as part of a move to bring some cosmetic changes to make the organisation acceptable to the public. But the Thodupuzha incident only proves that the NDF is still driven by its narrow communal agenda.

The political support the NDF enjoys has always been a bone of contention among parties who wanted to strike a `holier-than-thou’ pose to browbeat rivals. It is no secret that all major political parties in Kerala have struck deals with the outfit at some point or other.

However, the case of the IUML is the most brazen among them.
Though the Muslim Youth League consistently opposed the NDF, a powerful section in the League continued to strike a clandestine deal with the outfit.

Kerala: Parties loved to rub shoulders with NDF | NDF | Popular Front of India | Indian Express

 

[Iggy]

If this not stop in time the situation will be more worst than now. I hope they must be enjoying some kind of political back and also no one in India wants any Indian Taliban in Kerala.

Offcource they have grown this far with the political support only..The polictical parties were busy alleging Hindu terror which is non existent in kerala till date vote bank politics kept a closed eye on growing fanaticism in minorities here ...This must be lesson to India as a whole..should keep a strict watch over other religious organizations along with Hindu outfits ..

 

[chachachoudhary]

Popular front of india rally

 

[fallstuff]

Wonder whatever happened to all the slaughter of Sikhs and Muslims by the Hindus. Has anyone ever been convicted , even a trial. This is the 800 pound Gorrila in the room that no one seems to notice.

The Gorrila will go on ramage again, as the butchers were rewarded for their barbarism. Some posters here can't sing enough of Modi.