Twitter handle of PFI withheld, a day after ban

The official Twitter account of Popular Front of India (PFI) has been withheld in India by the social media platform "in response to a legal demand", sources  reported.

This comes on the back of the organization being banned in India, and the government ordering the blocking of all the social media traces of the banned outfit, including its Twitter, YouTube channels, Instagram, and Facebook accounts

The PFI, banned on Wednesday, was indulging in "disturbing" the country's communal and secular fabric and "posing a grave threat" to national security by advancing its radical ideology and seeking to establish "political Islam" in India besides targeting Hindu activists, according to MHA sources speaking to news agency PTI.

According to officials monitoring activities of the PFI and its members, a secret 'service team' was formed, similar to the 'hit squads' whose main task was to provide security to senior PFI leaders and also kept track of Hindu leaders in their areas and plan action against them.

They alleged the PFI covertly organises training exercises, military-like drills, where participants are trained to use force and violence against certain religious groups, which are perceived as enemy of Islam.

They further alleged that since its inception, the PFI has been against Hindu organisations and its leaders and the group has a secret hit squad that engages in targeted killings of Hindu activists and those allegedly indulging in blasphemy.

The PFI is alleged to have been continuously involved in anti-government propaganda and spreading the narrative that Muslims were being persecuted in India.

It had allegedly taken a lead in organising anti-CAA protests during December 2019-March 2020 and many cases were registered against them which included 51 in Uttar Pradesh alone where the PFI-led platform, Samvidhan Suraksha Andolan, was among those which coordinated the anti-CAA agitations.