Banned PFI's senior leader held in Kerala hours after he disbands outfit

A senior leader of the banned Islamic outfit Popular Front of India, which has considerable influence in Kerala, on Wednesday said the organization has been disbanded in view of the central government's decision to declare it as illegal.

Abdul Sattar, the state general secretary of PFI, was nabbed from Karunagappally in Kollam hours after he posted on the Facebook page of the outfit's Kerala unit that "as law abiding citizens of the country, the organisation accepts the decision of the ministry of home affairs".

In the post, he also said that all of its members and the public are being informed that "PFI has been disbanded" on account of the outfit being declared as banned by MHA."

Sattar, who was allegedly absconding after calling for a state-wide hartal on September 23 against nation-wide raids on the outfit's offices and arrests of its leaders, is expected to be handed over to the NIA during the day.

During the September 23 hartal, its activists had allegedly engaged in widespread violence resulting in damage to buses, public property and even attacks on the general public.

Multi-agency teams, spearheaded by NIA, had last week carried out raids at 93 locations in 15 states across the country and arrested over 100 PFI leaders for allegedly supporting terror activities in the country.

Kerala, where the PFI has some strong pockets, had accounted for the maximum number of 22 arrests.

The arrests were made by the National Investigation Agency, the Enforcement Directorate and police forces of the states concerned.