The union government is likely to ban the Popular Front of India (PFI) next week. The decision would be taken on the basis of an intelligence report submitted by the state police on PFI’s activities here, state intelligence sources said.
The report was forwarded by the intelligence wing of Kerala police after the central government sought it from the state home ministry.
The state government had recently informed Kerala high court that PFI was a new face of the banned Islamist group Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and was engaged in fundamentalist and anti-national activities.
The government also said PFI was responsible for 27 homicides in the state. Cases against it included the Muvattupuzha incident in which the palm of a lecturer at the Newman College was chopped off on July 4, 2010, for alleged blasphemy in the preparation of examination papers.
It was also made clear PFI activity was a threat to national unity and security. The government added that former members of SIMI were current leaders and members of PFI.
It is learnt that PFI has about 80,000 members and sympathisers across the county, a majority of them being in Kerala.
It is also alleged that PFI played a role in the SMS hate campaign that spread across the country after the Assam riots.