National Development Front

The National Development Front (NDF) was a Muslim organisation set up in Kerala. It was established in India in 1994 and merged with Popular Front of India in 2006 and stated that its objective was to "focus on socio-economical issues of minorities giving a focus to Kerala Muslims in Kerala".[1][2][3]

NDF announced a plan to adhere to the dawa (missionary work) of aggressively propagating Islam among other communities. P. Koya, NDF supreme council member, wrote an article in Thejas, the organisation's magazine, magazine, that "many Muslim organisations hold the view that dawa work is fundamental to Muslims. But the same organisations pay scant attention to the work".[4]

The slogan of the NDF is Swathantryam – Neethi – Surakrsha (Freedom - Justice - Security).

History

Inspired by pan-Islamic reactionary movements across the country after 1992, the NDF gained a firm footing in the Malabar region after the proscription of the Islamic Sevak Sangh (ISS) organisation.[5] Kerala police alleged that the National Development Front (NDF) is another re-incarnation of the ISS.[6] NDF actively publicized its claim to «represent the rights of minorities».[7][8]

The National Development Front has 19 Supreme Council members. Among them is Prof P. Koya who was also one of the founding members of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).[9]

In 1997 NDF conducted the National Human Rights Conference in Kozhikode. Based on discussions and understanding, a new organisation was formed called Confederation of Human Rights Organisation (CHRO).[10] NDF worked closely with journalists associated with Thejas Mukundan C Menon and the CHRO, who is closely tied to Human Rights Watch International.[11]

NDF Freedom Parade 2006

The NDF conducted Parades with the slogan "Be the sentinel of freedom"[12] in major cities of Kerala in 2004, 2005,[13] and in 2006.[14] The parades became one of the regular activities on the Indian Independence Day.[15]

NDF is in coalition with Popular Front of India and co-operated in the Empower India Conference, which was held at Bangalore in February 2007.[16]

In 2012, the NDF conducted different movements, demonstrations, rallies and other democratic strikes to protest against police brutality and government abuse,[17] claim more working rights in government employment,[18], implement reservation and allowances for the backward communities (OBC) to bring them up to the level of mainstream society, and overall enforce the rights of OBC minorities by forcing the government and its agencies to help the downtrodden in Indian society.

In 2012, the NDF was also involved in helping tsunami victims of Kerala and Tamil Nadu by providing necessities and shelter, and providing food and drinks to the victims.[19]

Criticism

The NDF was accused of being a communal outfit and members of the organisation were implicated in violent incidents such as the 2002 2nd Marad massacre.[20] The Thomas P Joseph Commission report found that "activists of IUML and NDF, a Muslim outfit, were actively involved in the massacre".[21] The State secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan, said that NDF was involved in the Marad massacre and referred to them as a "terrorist outfit" that executed a "planned mass murder".[22] NDF was blamed for inciting violence against moderate Muslims in Kerala who are in opposition to liberal and reformist Islamic movements and individuals.[23] The "involvement of fundamentalists and terrorists" was behind the incident.[21][23]

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) put forward allegations that NDF maintains links with Pakistan's ISI.[24] The Bharatiya Janata Party sought an inquiry into NDF-ISI links.[25] The Indian National Congress (who are politically opposed to the BJP) raised doubts about the true nature of their activities. On 31 October 2006, the Congress launched a campaign against terrorism in Malappuram district in Kerala, simultaneously taking on parties and organisations such as the IUML, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the NDF, and the People's Democratic Party (PDP).[26]

Foreign connection

Ms Neera Rawat IPS, Senior Superintendent of Police, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, deposed before the Marad Judicial Inquiry Commission of Justice Thomas P. Joseph. Her tenure as Kozhikode City Police Commissioner was from 22 March 1997 to 16 May 1999. She told the Inquiry Commission that the police had prepared confidential and authentic reports that ISI and Iran have funded the NDF.[27]

Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Special Branch, Ernakulam, A.V. George, also deposed before the Marad inquiry panel on 29 October 2005, and stated that a key witness in an illegal arms possession case had given a statement to the police during its investigation that the NDF had been receiving crores of rupees from foreign countries to carry out its training programmes. ACP George quoted the testimony made by arrested NDF cadres that the NDF had been sending people to Pakistan for the last several years.[28]

Kottakkal Police station attack

Police accused that NDF activists attacked the Kottakkal police station at Kottakkal in Malappuram district in the early hours of 23 March 2007 following the arrest of two senior leaders of the front. The attack was repulsed by the Police and 27 activists were taken into custody.[29]

Modus operandi

Frontline magazine quoted a senior police officer as saying that the NDF had successfully exploited the sense of insecurity created in the Muslim community by events that followed the Babri Masjid demolition to find supporters in northern Kerala, irrespective of their political or other allegiances. The report adds: "Initially, no NDF member used to acknowledge openly that he was an NDF member. they would always claim that they were members of other organisations. The truth may be that members of several organisations were members of the NDF also. Now the NDF has several wings and is making a major effort to project itself as a socio-cultural organisation of Muslims."[30]

Pakistan MPs visit row

Pakistan MP Mohammed Thaha Mohammed's visit to Thalassery on 29 April 2007 sparked a controversy, with activists of the BJP and other Sangh Parivar groups staging a march to the hotel where Mohammed was staying. They claimed that leaders of a few Muslim organisations, including the NDF, were seen visiting the MP. Mohammed Thaha Mohammed represents Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal in Pakistan's parliament.[31]

Additional views

University of Haifa political scientist David Bukay lists the NDF as a "fundamentalist and subversive group".[32] After the 11 July 2006 Mumbai Train Bombings, the NDF, along with other Islamist organisations, was closely monitored by authorities for terrorist links.[33] The organisation attracted numerous Islamic Fundamentalists to their ranks, and are compared to several more well-known militant Islamist groups such as Lashkar-e-Toiba, Hizbul Mujahideen, and others.[34]

Implementation of religious code

The NDF is alleged to be involved in efforts to push the Islamic Sharia code among the moderate and cosmopolitan Muslim society in Kerala, an act viewed by moderate Muslims and secularists as "Talibanization". NDF was accused of targeting liberals in the community – those who do not strictly follow Islamic laws like abstaining from liquor, fasting during Ramadan, and wearing the makhna or purdah.[35] Fakir Uppappa or Siddhan was killed in June for indulging in "un-Islamic spiritualism".[36]

A Muslim was murdered in Punalur for binding with Leftist organisation [DYFI]. Media reports about the killing of CPI(M)'s Ashraf in Punalur in Kollam district points towards this.[36]

NDF's response to criticisms

The NDF denied involvement in the Marad massacre. It alleged that the perpetrators arrested for the acts were not members of their organisation[37] and blamed the incident on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and other "Fascist Hindus".[38] They made veiled threats implying that there would "be trouble" if "innocent Muslims were persecuted by the police".[37] They declared that they "welcomed the CBI investigation" into the Marad riots.[38]

The NDF criticised the media and the authorities for their portrayal of the organisation as a militant outfit. An NDF spokesperson said:[39]

"Media persons have been misled by Intelligence authorities to believe that the NDF was a militant organisation. They had said the same thing about Congress during the freedom struggle."
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See also

References
  1. The Jihad Within, Rediff.com.
  2. The Muslim Rightwing in Kerala M G Radhakrishnan India Today, 15 February 1999
  3. Amar C. Bakshi (20 July 2007). "A Professor Praises Terrorism". The Washington Post. Retrieved 16 February 2011.
  4. 'Major Muslim outfits not good missionaries' – Newindpress.com
  5. "Rediff.com". Rediff.com. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  6. IDSA Strategic Comments:: Is Kerala Emerging as India's New Terror Hub? :: Archived 12 July 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  7. "NDF Minorities Campaign". The Hindu. 21 December 2005. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  8. CHRO Website
  9. "A Professor Praises Terrorism". The Washington Post. Retrieved 19 May 2010.
  10. NDF in ties with Confederation of Human Rights Organisations
  11. HRW Report
  12. "''Be the sentinel of freedom". The Hindu. 16 August 2005. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  13. "Freedom Parade 2005". Ndfindia.com. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  14. "NDF Freedom Parade Report from". The Hindu. 16 August 2005. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  15. "Indian Independence Day Activities In Kerala". The Hindu. 16 August 2005. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  16. "Create broad-based alliance of all oppressed sections". The Hindu. 18 February 2007. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  17. "Widespread protests against death sentence". The Hindu. 7 November 2006. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  18. "NDF to take out ''black march''". Hinduonnet.com. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  19. "Relief activities in progress – The Hindu". The Hindu. 29 December 2004. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  20. R. Krishnakumar, Marad shocks, Frontline (magazine), Volume 23, Issue 20, 7–20 October 2006 accessed at "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 12 January 2009. Retrieved 9 February 2007.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) 29 December 2006
  21. Marad massacre: Kerala govt for CBI probe Times of India – 27 September 2006
  22. UDF Slept As Marad Burned, by Aboo Backer, CPI(M) weekly
  23. "The enemy within". Communalism Combat. March 1999. Retrieved 21 March 2012.
  24. "BJP seeks inquiry into NDF-ISI links". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 20 May 2005.
  25. The Hindu – 20 May 2005
  26. Congress' anti-terrorism campaign in Malappuram,The Hindu
  27. "ISI, Iran funded NDF: Rawat". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 14 May 2005.
  28. "NDF received aid from foreign countries". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 30 October 2005.
  29. "NDF activists attack Kottakkal police station; 27 arrested". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 23 March 2007.
  30. "Hinduonnet.com". Hinduonnet.com. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  31. "Pakistan MP's visit to Kerala sparks row". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 29 April 2007.
  32. Bukay, David (2004). Muhammad's Monsters: A Comprehensive Guide to Radical Islam for Western Audiences P177-178. New Leaf Press. ISBN 0-89221-576-3. Evidence of these processes [preparation for large-scale acts of terror] is mounting throughout India, and is reflected in the number of fundamentalist and subversive groups that exist, and the geographical spread of their activities. The most prominent of these include the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, the All India Milli Council, All India Jihad Committee, The People's Democratic Party, Muslim United Front, Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazagham, National Development Front, Students Islamic Movement of India, among others
  33. "Police on alert after Mumbai blasts". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 18 July 2006.
  34. Ahamkaari (2003). "4". Will I Be Killed?: (for Writing the Following Contents. ..) P331. iUniverse. ISBN 0-595-27591-5. Kerala is witnessing more and more recruits into this extremist Islamic ideology". When the names are the alarming "Lashkar-e-Toiba" and "Hizbul Mujahiddeen" in the "uneducated North", it is very humorously garbed as "National Development Front" in the south"
  35. "[sacw] The Muslim Rightwing in Kerala". Insaf.net. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  36. Kerala's extremist outfit of many faces Archived 29 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  37. "NDF denies accusation in Marad massacre". Hinduonnet.com. 16 January 2002. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  38. "NDF welcomed CBI Probe". Ndfindia.com. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  39. "News from The Hindu". Hinduonnet.com. 16 January 2002. Retrieved 11 May 2012.

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