The Congress on Thursday attacked the CPM-led government in Kerala for going after the extremist Popular Front of India (PFI) whose activists have been accused of chopping the right hand of a college lecturer. The lecturer had prepared a question paper that allegedly insulted the Prophet. Indicating that it was going soft on Muslim fundamentalism ahead of the elections to the local bodies scheduled for September,Opposition leader Oommen Chandy echoed the PFI line that the government was targeting the whole community. Addressing a party meeting held against fundamentalism,Chandy said the government was holding the entire Muslim community responsible for extremism. There is no revenge in Islam. The government has stooped to extremist organisation the level of demeaning that community over the attack on the lecturer, said Chandy. The PFI is the only Muslim organisation that has said that the police crackdown is a witchunt against the community. Even the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML),a partner in the Congress-led front,has taken an aggressive stand against the PFI. While its chief Hyderali Shihab Thangal said places of worship should not be converted into armouries,state secretaty M K Muneer declared the party did not want the votes of PFI supporters. Thangal never commented on the police crackdown. In the Lok Sabha elections,the PFI had supported the Congress-led front. Asked about its support in the wake of report on its role in violent attacks,Chandi had then said that he did not have the audacity to say no to PFI votes. The state government launched the crackdown on the PFI after assailants chopped off the right hand of T J Joseph,the college lecturer who prepared a question paper that allegedly insulted the Prophet,on July 4. Police have already arrested four PFI activists and have raided several offices of the organisation. The PFI and its earlier avatar,the National Democratic Front,trace their roots to the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). The organisation has been involved in several violent clashes and attacks in Kerala. The police are investigating if two of the arrested activistswho had worked in Saudi Arabia and visited that country several timesare linked to CAM Basheer,a former SIMI leader and one of Indias most wanted who is believed to be based in that country. They are also investigating whether the organisation is linked to the two incidents of attempted sabotage of trains in Kerala last fortnight.
