'PFI encouraging terror, have consistently asked Centre to ban it' : Assam CM Himata Biswa Sarma

Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday said his government has been consistently requesting the Centre to ban the Popular Front of India (PFI) for allegedly "creating an eco-system for terror activities". The state police have so far arrested "11 PFI activists" as a part of the nationwide crackdown on the radical Islamic outfit, he said. "The Assam government is consistently asking the Centre to ban the PFI. We are convinced that the organisation needs to be banned, Sarma said on the sidelines of a programme here. The state government, however, has given its inputs on the outfit to the Centre, he said.

In a massive crackdown on the PFI, multi-agency teams spearheaded by the NIA arrested 106 leaders and activists of the radical Islamic outfit on Thursday in near-simultaneous raids in 15 states for allegedly supporting terror activities in the country. Sarma said the police are investigating whether there are links among the outfit and the radicalisation modules in some madrasas busted by the law enforcement agencies since March this year.

We have intelligence inputs that the PFI has created an ecosystem that encourages some people to join the radicalisation modules sponsored by the ISIS and Al Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), Sarma said. The state police arrested the PFI activists as there were intelligence inputs, and specific cases were registered against them, he said.

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After these arrests, some people staged protests and blocked roads at Nagarbera in Kamrup (Rural) district. "We are trying to find out people who instigated the protests and will take action against them, Sarma said.

PFI's West Bengal state chief Minarul Sheikh was among the 11 arrested people and he was apprehended in New Delhi.Of the arrested PFI activists, four are from Nagarbera in Kamrup (Rural) district, two from Guwahati, and one each from Karimganj, Barpeta, Baksa and Nagaon.