Kerala government orders collectors and police chiefs to crack down on banned PFI

The order arguably gives the police almost blanket authority to surveil and prosecute suspected PFI activity

The PFI was established in Kerala in 2006, purportedly by leaders of the now defunct National Development Front (PDF). The organisation has some measure of support in the State.

On Wednesday, a press release issued in the name of PFI State general secretary Abdul Sattar said the organisation had disbanded itself in adherence to the Central government's decision.

The same day, the Kollam police in Kerala took Mr. Sattar into custody from his office in Karungapally and handed him over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), the Centre's top ant--terrorist agency.

Earlier, the NIA had arrested several top leaders of the PFI from their homes in Kerala and transported them to New Delhi to face UAPA charges. The sweeping raids also targeted PFI offices across the State.

The PFI earned some measure of notoriety in 2010 when persons alleged to PFI cadres chopped off the palm of a college teacher for preparing a question paper that allegedly blasphemed against Islam. Later, the police linked PFI activists to several political murders, including the retaliatory killings of RSS leaders in Alappuzha and Palghat.