Javed Akhtar negates Mohsin Raza’s remark on alleged PFI role in anti-CAA violence in UP

Political activist and lyricist Javed Akhtar has negated the Uttar Pradesh Minister Mohsin Raza’s remark on the alleged PFI link to the violent anti-CAA protests which involved stone pelting and damaging of public property. “I don’t think the statement by Mohsin Raza is right, if today PFI is related to SIMI, tomorrow there would be someone else for them,'' Akhtar said. 

READ | 'UP Govt Will Clamp Down Perpetrators Of Violence':Dy CM On SDPI-PFI Role In Anti-CAA Stir

Counters government's clarification

Over the explanation of the central government which says CAA is the delivery of promise made by Mahatma Gandhi to the non-minorities in Pakistan who were the victims of partition, Akhtar asked, ''What has partition got to do with Afghanistan?” He added that the Indian constitution doesn’t allow divide on the basis of religion.

READ | UP Police Seeks Ban On PFI For Involvement In Anti-CAA Protests

Earlier in the day, citing several reports and investigations that exposed Popular Front of India (PFI) link to the violent protests against the amended Citizenship Act, Mohsin Raza had said that PFI is another version of SIMI (Students Islamic Movement of India) which is banned for its radical Islamist extremism and said that PFI brainwashed the Muslims and instigated them against the Citizenship Act. He had further opined that PFI was somehow backed by Pakistani intel agency ISI. 

READ | REPUBLIC INVESTIGATION PART 1: PFI Started Planning Earlier This Year

Investigation reveals SDPI and PFI role behind the violent protests

The investigation has found SDPI and PFI’s role in inciting violence in the anti-CAA protests in Uttar Pradesh and Mangaluru. As per sources, the SDPI began hiring activists a month in advance from November 1 onwards. Thereafter, pamphlets were distributed among the Muslim community spreading misleading information with regards to the Act. For instance, the pamphlets stated that property rights would be snatched, bank accounts would be closed and so forth. Muslims were exhorted to gather in large numbers and asked to fight after Friday prayers. The nation-wide protests claimed several lives of the protesters and policemen.

READ | AIMIM Slams SDPI-PFI For Alleged Role In Anti-CAA Violence, Backs UP Police Probe

The amended Citizenship Act seeks to grant Indian citizenship to Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist and Parsi refugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh facing religious persecution in the three countries and who entered India on or before December 31, 2014.