The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on October 18, 2022, carried out raids at two locations in the Phulwari Sharif area of Bihar’s capital Patna, in connection with the banned Islamist outfit Popular Front of India (PFI). The raid was also reportedly conducted at the house of Marguv Ahmad Danish alias Tahir, who was running a WhatsApp group named ‘Ghazwa-e-Hind’. ‘Ghazwa-e-Hind’ is a term used for the Islamic goal to make the whole of India an Islamic country. Tahir was arrested in July 2022. The police have seized multiple documents from the house of Tahir. Informing about the arrest of Tahir, SSP Patna MS Dhillon in July 2022 had said:
Arrested person made 2 WhatsApp groups that was created through Pakistan number & he was made admin. It had many people from gulf countries. Another group was made in January & had Bangladeshi people.
These groups were distributing anti-national content instigating people along with pro-terrorism posts related to Kashmir. They had plans to join direct jihad in 2023.
In an earlier raid conducted by the NIA in Phulwari Sharif on July 13, the central agency discovered the 8-page vision document titled ‘India 2047 – Towards Rule of Islam in India’. The document revealed the plan of the organization to establish an ‘Islamic government’ in India on the 100th anniversary of the independence. The document stated that “the PFI is confident that even if 10 percent of the total Muslim population rally behind it, the organization would subjugate the majority community to their knees and bring back the glory of Islam in India”. The document as part of the strategy to mobilize Muslims in India to wage Jihad said, “to launch an armed attack on the Indian State by Indian Muslims aided by Islamic nations like Turkey”.
The police arrested a retired Jharkhand Police officer named Mohammad Jalaluddin, and Athar Parvez, a member of the political wing of PFI, Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), in the case.
On September 28, the Centre banned the PFI and its front organizations for five years under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). The notification issued by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs banning PFI and its front organizations stated:
There had been a number of instances of international linkages of PFI with Global Terrorist Groups and some activists of the PFI have joined Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and participated in terror activities in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. Some of these PFI cadres linked to ISIS have been killed in these conflict theaters and some have been arrested by State Police and Central Agencies and also the PFI has linkages with Jamat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), a proscribed terrorist organization.
