'Centre took right decision...': Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde hails govt decision to ban PFI

Mumbai, Sep 28: Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Wednesday welcomed the Union government's decision to ban the Popular Front of India, which has allegedly been involved in a series of violence, and said it has come to light that the organisation was planning "something serious" in the state.

The organisation members had also tried to disturb peace in Pune, but swift police action foiled their bid, Shinde told reporters in Nashik and thanked Union Home Minister Amit Shah for the step to ban PFI and its several associates for five years.

Taking to Twitter, Shinde remarked, "The central government has decided to ban the organization Popular Front of India for five years. The government of Maharashtra welcomes this decision."

The Centre has imposed a ban on the Popular Front of India (PFI) and several of its associates for their alleged terror activities.

The organisations which were also declared banned under the stringent anti-terror law UAPA include Rehab India Foundation (RIF), Campus Front of India (CF), All India Imams Council (AIIC), National Confederation of Human Rights Organisation (NCHRO), National Women's Front, Junior Front, Empower India Foundation and Rehab Foundation, Kerala.

The action of the Central government came days after a countrywide crackdown on the 16-year-old PFI, arrest of over a hundred of its activities and seizure of several dozen properties.

In a late Tuesday night notification, the Union Home Ministry said some of the PFI's founding members are the leaders of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and the PFI has linkages with Jamat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB). Both JMB and SIMI are proscribed organisations. It said there had been many instances of international linkages of PFI with global terrorist groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).