No time for complacency as PFI looks to wake up its second-rung leadership in smaller towns

The ban on the PFI was on expected lines and even the outfit had expected it. In the run up to the ban, the PFI had already put in place an alternate plan

New Delhi, Feb 04: The Popular Front of India (PFI) may have been banned, but the agencies are not being complacent about it.

The PFI in the run up to the ban had groomed a second rung of leadership, which they had deliberately kept underground. This leadership was groomed in the smaller towns and cities with an intention of keeping the heat away from them.

The Intelligence agencies are keeping a close watch on the activities of such persons to ensure that they do not erupt and unleash a wave of communal incidents in these parts of the country.

Abhinav Pandya, a Cornell University graduate in public affairs is undoubtedly one of the best minds in the country tracking counter-terrorism. He writes that the the PFI was expecting the ban a year back. This was made known to the leadership by their assets in the police, intelligence and other state institutions. The PFI penetrated all the Madrasas along the India-Nepal border from Uttarakhand to West Bengal. They are more active on the Napal side of the border, where there is a Madrasa every ten kilometres.

Pandya also writes that in Nepal, the PFI's sister entity is the Islami Nepal Sangh. This outfit is engaged in anti-India activities and draws support from Pakistan's ISI, which is very active in Nepal.

Calm before the storm:

An Intelligence Bureau official explains to OneIndia that the second rung leadership of the PFI which is more dominant in the smaller towns will lie low for long. They would try and disturb harmony over the coming months, or closer to the elections in 2024. The option of complacency is not an option when it comes to this outfit, the official also explains.

The other plan which the PFI has to infiltrate the debates on television. They have done that already and managed to provoke Hindus. For now they are quiet, but over the next couple of months, they would have their cronies back on the TV screens. The challenge for the agencies would be to track these persons who are not officially part of the PFI, but share their ideology. This is the plan they have in mind, the official cited above said.

Officials say that the PFI would either look to re-emerge in a new avatar or would activate its second rung leadership or both. For now the second rung leadership is the biggest worry as they are all completely underground. As stated above these persons would continue to radicalise the Muslim youth and get them to indulge in acts of communal violence.

The worry is the rise of communal violence in smaller cities. The acts of these persons was evident when it killed, Kanaihya Lal in Udaipur and Umesh Kolhe in Amritsar, both relatively smaller towns. This only makes it clear that the PFI has a strong network in such places and can activate its underground network any time. The bigger worry would also be that these incidents in smaller towns could spread like wildfire to other parts of the country.