Asaduddin Owaisi calls PFI ban ‘draconian’

HYDERABAD: MIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi termed the Centre’s banning of the Kerala-based outfit Popular Front of India (PFI) a “dangerous step”, claiming that the “draconian ban” would allow for the arrest of Muslim youth without reason.

Owaisi said that although he was opposed to the PFI’s approach, he could not support the ban.

“Actions of few individuals who commit crime do not mean that the organisation itself must be banned. SC has also held that mere association with an organisation is not enough to convict one. The way India’s electoral autarky is approaching fascism, every Muslim youth will now be arrested with a PFI pamphlet under India’s black law, UAPA,” he tweeted.

The Hyderabad MP said, “I will always oppose all actions under UAPA. It runs afoul the principle of liberty. How come PFI is banned but organisations associated with convicts of Khaja Ajmeri bomb blasts aren’t? Why has the government not banned right-wing majoritarian organisations?”

He also referred to the case of Siddique Kappan, a journalist who was behind bars under UAPA for two years before getting bail. “This case will follow the timeline of Kappan, where any activist or journalist is randomly arrested and takes two years to even get bail,” he said.