Digital Desk: Ten leaders of the Popular Front of
India (PFI) were arrested on Thursday by the National Investigation Agency
(NIA) in joint raids conducted with Assam police across the state.
Aminul Hoque, Abdul Razzak, Robiul
Hussain, Nazrul Islam Bhuyan, Rafiqul Islam, Abu Sama Ahmed, Farhad Ali,
Khalilur Rahman, Mufti Rahmatullah, and Bazul Karim are among those detained.
They were apprehended during raids in Guwahati, Nagarbera, Samaguri, Barpeta,
Karimganj, and Baksa.
PFI's northeast regional secretary
is Aminul Hoque, the Assam unit president is Abu Sama Ahmed, and the state unit
general secretary is Robiul Hussain. Rafiqul Islam and Mufti Rahmatullah,
district presidents of the PFI's Nagaon and Barpeta units, were also arrested.
Hoque was previously arrested in
December 2019 for allegedly inciting violence during anti-Citizenship Amendment
Act (CAA) protests in which five people died as a result of police firing and
extensive public property damage occurred.
Farhad Ali ran in the state assembly
election as the official candidate of the All India United Democratic Front
(AIUDF) from the Mathanguri constituency last year. He was the opposition's
unifying candidate, alongside Congress, the AIUDF, and eight other parties.
The arrested leaders have been
charged under sections 120-B, 124-A, 153-A, and 353 of the Indian Penal Code
for criminal conspiracy, sedition, promoting enmity between different groups,
and using assault or criminal force to deter public servants from performing
their duties.
According to an Assam Police
statement, these leaders were apprehended based on credible information that
they were attempting to foment communal strife throughout the state.
"They were indulging in
whipping the communal passions and sentiments of the religious minority by
criticising every government policy with communal overtones, including CAA,
National Register of Citizens (NRC), and 'D'-Voter (doubtful voter),"
according to the statement.
It is alleged that the leaders were
spreading falsehoods about the new state education policy, Cattle Protection
Act, extension of Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA), Teacher
Eligibility Test (TET) examination, Agnipath defence scheme and eviction of
encroached government lands “with a view to term these actions of the
government as an attack on the Muslim community”.
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